Mesmerized
by alice d-x3
Summary: My take on Klaus/OC (occasionally maybe other rather short flings between TVD characters and OC). Starts around S03E12 (TVD) and hopefully extents to The Originals Season 5. Prepare for a slow and bumpy road, cause no true happy ending is achieved easily ;) (Oh and don't be confused, because it may look like Elijah/OC in the beginning - it's not. [Rating may change to M])
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys!

So this is my first fanfiction in like.. forever? I used to write Harry Potter fanfics, waaaay back in the day, when I was like 13 years old. (and writing this I realize how old I already am... D: )

However, I've got quite a few things to say before we can jump into the story :D

1\. I'm German, so I apologize for all the errors you are definitely going to find in my work. But I hope that you forgive me and please don't shy back pointing out my mistakes in any way. I do wanna learn and I know my English is not nearly perfect, but I love this language, which is why I chose to write in it instead of German.

2\. In regards of the story, I already have like a rough outline on some main events and where I am going with my character. I don't wanna just repeat what happened on the show and simply change the dialogue where it is necessary to incorporate my OC. However there are still some points where I haven't decided how far I am going to deviate from the original story line. So if you have any thoughts, wishes or preferences, please let me know (if any of you even chooses to be that invested in this story, we don't know that yet :D).

Oh and just so you know, I like it better if things about the characters are explained or revealed along the way, so if there is any confusion about my OC's backstory, don't worry, it will all be explained sooner or later :)

Well, enough rambling, I really hope you guys bear with me on this one, I'm certainly gonna try and give my best. Soooo... let's jump into the story, shall we? ;)

* * *

 **CHAPTER 1**

Home. She was back home.

Taking in a deep breath the dark-haired girl finally found the courage to open the door to her old house. It was overwhelming. Nothing had changed. Every little object was exactly were she left it, inevitably coated with an impressible amount of dust, but in the exact same position. Tears were threatening to pool in her eyes, but she shook it of, she knew from the very beginning, that this would be hard and decided long ago that there really was no point in dwelling on the past.

What a realistic goal, coming back to the town that was filled with so many memories. She had to suppress scoffing at herself for being so naive.

Slowly she began to venture trough the house, sliding her fingers along the furniture every here and there, a sad expression on her face and on the verge of crying once again. Her hand squeezed into a fist, and she slammed it into the wall next to her, trying to regain composure. Deciding to simply deal with this later, she went to her truck, got her things out of the car and just threw them into the hallway. It wasn't like there was somebody else here to care about that anyway.

Going for a walk, getting a drink, doing anything other than being alone in this house seemed like a good idea to her, so she grabbed her purse and went to do just that.

An hour later, the dark-haired girl walked through the town, a cup of coffee-to-go in her hand. If she ever loved anything, it was just that. Wandering aimlessly through whatever her environment had to offer. She just decided to turn into some empty alley next to her, and she was fairly certain that it was in fact empty, when she suddenly collided with something. Or someone.

She gasped and opened up her eyes only to be stunned by the sight in front of her. An amazingly handsome man was standing there, smiling down at her curiously with one of his eyebrows slightly raised. He had brown eyes and hair, just like herself, although his hair was a few shades lighter than hers. Dressed in an extremely expensive looking suit he really stood out from his environment, which made her stare at him in even bigger wonder.

Only when she felt the dryness of her mouth, did she realize that she was starring at him, mouth open. And only after that did she realize that half her coffee was now splattered across his dark-blue shirt and black suit. Her eyes widened in embarrassment, but she finally managed to let words escape her mouth.

"Oh god", she blurred out, cheeks reddening. "I am _so_ sorry. I-" She was at a lost for words. Everything she could come up with, sounded incredibly stupid in her head.

"It's quite alright", the man smirked down at her, as he seemed to realize, that that was extent of what she was going to say.

She felt her knees growing a little bit weaker, she always had a thing for accents. Still, this was so not like her. Acting like a teenage girl with some stupid crush on a boy, she literally just met. She breathed in, shook it off and gave him a smile.

He returned it and spoke up again. "But I do believe that I owe you a new beverage, Miss …? "

"Davis. Rachel Davis.", she smiled thankfully at him for trying to turn this rather awkward situation around.

"Elijah Mikaelson. It's my pleasure", he said and before she knew it, her hand was in his, his lips grazing her knuckles, never breaking eye-contact. She had to suppress a gasp, but not just because, of the pleasant feeling his lips on her skin sent through her body, but mainly because this short touch was enough for her to know the truth about him.

Slight disappointment began to settle in, but she wouldn't let it sink to far. Judging someone by what they were, had always seemed wrong to her. Even though she had to deal with the lack of this sentiment towards herself way to often in her 23 years on this earth, didn't mean that she wouldn't show it towards others.

"Quite the gentleman.", Rachel mused.

"So I've been told.", Elijah replied, still an amused expression on his face.

"Well, we should do something about that.", Rachel pointed at the coffee on his cloths. "Before it sets."

"No worries, really.", he waved his hand, dismissing the subject.

"You can say that however often you want, but that isn't gonna change anything about my guilty conscience. So there are two options here: Either you come back to my house and let me take care of it or I give you some money for the dry-cleaning", she already started fumbling in her purse to look for her cash when he gently lay his hand on her wrist, stopping her movement.

"There really is no necessity. But may I ask: Has it occurred to you, that I would be perfectly capable of removing this stain by myself?"

Rachel contemplated this for a second, not wanting to refer to gender-specific stereotypes, but she still ended up shaking her head and narrowing her eyes at him a little bit. "No...", she spoke slowly, "Not really." An embarrassed smile formed on her face. "But if you are so persistent in refusing my help, then so be it.", she shrugged, but her smile grew wider mostly to show him that she wasn't at all offended but rather amused by this strange encounter.

Elijah looked at her with an expression she couldn't quite decipher. "It is simply a matter of principles. I am in the wrong. It was I who did not pay attention to my surroundings.", she opened her mouth to disagree but his look made her stop. "So.", he shifted slightly and his expression turned into a friendlier one. "How about that drink?"

She looked at him with sheer amusement and sighed. "Well, before we go back and forth on this subject the entire day, I guess I will simply accept your offer"

"Wise choice.", he smirked and began to move and lead the way.

About fifteen minutes later they were in a rather secluded area of Mystic Falls, all the while chatting about different kind of things. If you could even referrer to it as chatting. Elijah's choice of words made Rachel feel almost dumb, even though she knew she wasn't. But since she knew what he was, she guessed, that he was probably already quite old.

They have come to an agreement, that they swing by Elijah's home, so he could get changed into something clean, and after that find a place where they could get a drink. Now they were standing in front of a massive building, which apparently was his home. Rachel gasped a little bit at the sight of the house.

"I know it is quite...", Elijah began.

"Pretentious?", Rachel turned to him with wide eyes realizing what she just said. "I'm sorry", she shook her head. "Rude."

Elijah merely gave her a side-glance and raised one side of his lips. "Well...", he shrugged his shoulders, seemingly agreeing with her.

* * *

After Elijah changed into clean clothes, which was the only other outfit he had at this house, being just undaggered earlier that day, he made his way downstairs to the waiting Rachel.

It was astounding. He couldn't quite explain why exactly he was so interested in her. She seemed to almost radiate some sort of lightness and cheerfulness, even though her eyes gave away all the weight she carried.

Walking down the stairs and seeing her waiting for him, made him come to the same conclusion as earlier: She was truly beautiful. Her dark hair with golden highlights, which increased in numbers and got even lighter the lower they went, lay in big natural waves on her back. All of her facial features went along in a perfect way forming an extraordinary beautiful face. Her brown eyes held a warmth which somehow drew him to her and sparkled every time she smiled or laughed at him.

She was dressed rather casually with a pair of black jeans, a beige top with a few fancy details here and there and a dark green cardigan, who had the same color as her sneakers.

The way she wore those rather common clothes combined with the fact that she didn't wore a drop of make-up made her look comfortable in her own skin and her beauty simply effortless - which was especially appealing to him. Even her scent was an interesting combination of sweet and floral, light and fresh, and earthy and spicy. Everything about her was all in all a weird but more than pleasant mixture.

When he stood almost directly next to her she turned to him and smiled. "Such a big house and you are here all alone?"

"Yes my brother seems to be otherwise occupied at the moment and technically...", he gestured around the interior, "it's his house."

A thoughtful expression went over Rachel's face. "Hm... and why does your brother need such a big house then?"

Elijah couldn't suppress his smirk "I suppose most of the room in here is reserved for his ego."

That made her laugh, a sound he already grew to like in the short amount of time they got to know each other. "That bad, huh?"

"That bad." Rachel simply shook her head slightly, eyes filled with amusement.

"Shall we?", Elijah asked, extending his hand towards the door. She curtsied, a mocking look on her face and began to walk to the door.

* * *

Rachel and Elijah decided to go to the Mystic Grill, since first of all, it was the only real option and second of all, she really wanted to see that place again, even though at the same time she kind of dreaded it.

Luckily there weren't too many familiar faces inside, she had to fend off a few people commenting on how she was back just to ask her in a pitying tone if she was doing okay. After she told every single one of them that she was doing just fine, convincing them all, Rachel led Elijah to the bar indicating she wanted to sit there.

"Closer to the alcohol", she said to him with a smirk, but it wasn't a joke, not entirely. Being back stirred up all kind of feelings and to say that it was tough would be highly underrated. Thankfully she had a distraction by her side, in the form of a very attractive vampire.

Rachel decided that she wanted this subject out of the way, so when their first drinks were served she turned to him to clink their glasses and asked: "So, how many centuries have you actually been around?" It looked like he almost choked on his drink. He really had not picked up on the fact that she knew.

"Pardon me?", Elijah eyed her with an expression of curiosity but also slight mistrust.

"It's not that hard to pick up on if you know they exist", she shrugged, "You're cold to the touch and you act and speak as if you were around at a time where it was normal to act and speak like that." She wouldn't tell him the actual reason she knew. She had only told three people about it since she was 9 years old, but it seemed as though it was good enough to convince her companion.

"Quite a few.", Elijah said to answer her question.

"Vague much, huh?", Rachel laughed at him. "Okay, well... maybe you'd like to share something else about yourself then?"

"And what precisely would you like to know about my life, Miss Davis?"

Rachel almost visibly cringed. "For starters, I would much prefer if you _please_ just call me Rachel." He nodded once, the corner of his mouth turning up. "I don't know... how about you tell me something about your family, you already mentioned your brother, who seems like quite the...", she couldn't think of suitable and non-insulting word so she just let it be. "Any other siblings?"

"Yes, three of them. But my relationship with my siblings is rather complicated and most times even catastrophic."

"I see", he obviously didn't want to go into further detail, and Rachel chose to simply accept that, even though he made it quite difficult to keep up a consistent conversation, since he seemed to be so secretive.

"So what about you? Tell me about your family."

Ouch. She knew this would backfire, why did she have to ask him about his family? Of course, he would direct this question back at her. Apparently her immediate change of emotions did not go unnoticed by him, because he laid his hand on hers and stroked the back of it with his thump in a reassuring manner.

* * *

A few hours later, Elijah and Rachel were still sitting at the bar, one more drunk than the other.

After the first 30 minutes or so, Rachel had ordered him at least triple of what she was having, because according to her his vampire-induced tolerance for alcohol seemed unfair. He played along, especially because she seemed to be wildly upset about the topic of her family.

He had learned that her adoptive father died two years ago, which was when Rachel had left Mystic Falls. Her adoptive mother left around seven years ago and hasn't come back since. She had no siblings, whether biological nor adopted but he made a quick escape when the subject fell on her biological parents. It was obvious how much she didn't want to talk or apparently even think about them.

After they had managed to turn their conversation around they shared a rather delightful exchange. Given with more and more alcohol both of them opened up a bit more, just as a lot more words came out rather slurred, mostly hers. She told him all sorts of things about herself, mainly her likes and dislikes, such as her love for video games and mathematics and her intolerance for the color pink, hot-pink to be precise.

He himself shared quite a few stories about various decades that she specifically asked about (obviously to determine how old he was), which she followed with surprisingly high interest, claiming that insight from someone who was actual there to witness it, made almost everything interesting...

"I don't know, maybe not model railroads", she contemplated, tipping her index finger against her chin as if in deep thought.

"Once I talked to a guy who was totally into that kind of stuff, and I don't know if it was him or the hobby itself, but I couldn't have actively listened to him even if my life had depended on it."

He laughed. He didn't know exactly how to comment on that, she kept talking about such random things, seemingly everything that, for whatever reason, popped into her mind. The fact that her talking became more and more slurred just added to his amusement, although he couldn't deny that it was all quite endearing.

"Careful there", he said and quickly put a hand on her lower back when she almost fell of her stool again. She glanced at him with a slightly embarrassed but still thankful expression and leaned forward on the counter to keep herself steady.

"I think maybe this is a sign to call it a night", she said to him with an apologetic look on her face. Elijah nodded in agreement and waved at the bartender telling him they were ready to pay.

As the young dark-haired man walked over to them Rachel began searching through her purse. He laid a hand on her arm signaling her to stop the search, that he would pay for it himself.

"Nooo.", she straightened herself slightly. "No Elijah I can't let you do that. Do you have any idea how many drinks we had? How many drinks _I_ ordered. Why on earth should you have to pay for that?", Rachel whined with an almost desperate voice.

Not putting the topic up to discussion he simply handed the bartender the amount of money they owed plus a rather unconventionally high tip.

"I will pay you back, I hope you know that.", Rachel pointed her finger at him in an unsteady way and obviously tried to look threatening, definitely failing at that.

Elijah let out a short laugh and stood up, ready to steady Rachel and help her get up, too. She took his hand and almost instantly fell into his already waiting arm, not at all able to stand on her own just then. After a short while he managed to maneuver them out of the bar.

It was brain-wrecking, thinking about it now. Originally he wast just out to get a haircut, worrying about meeting with Damon first thing tomorrow, filled with anger towards his brother for going back on his word once again. Not to mention what he felt at himself for falling for it repeatedly... But the encounter with the beautiful woman he had now wrapped an arm around and whose head leaned against his shoulder had actually managed to take his mind off of all these things.

* * *

"There it is", Rachel said and looked at the front door of the house they were now standing in front of. A conflicted expression began to show on her face, which seemingly did not go unnoticed by Elijah who suddenly laid a hand on her shoulder encouraging her to say what was on her mind. Rachel let out a rather loud sigh, inwardly debating on what she wanted to share with the vampire she met just a few hours ago and what not.

"I was always doing just fine being alone, mostly better even. But lately...", Rachel looked down at her shoes, not really sure how to express herself.

"I could accompany you for a while, if you please. I may not be the best company to keep around, but perhaps it would help you feel less... alone."

Rachel looked at him, half in shock. Why would a man she barely knew care about how she felt? Moreover a vampire who now wanted to be invited into her home? It was weird. Very weird. Rachel eyed Elijah suspiciously and he shifted, obviously aware of her inner trouble.

"I can see why you are troubled by my offer, but rest assured, I do not hold any ill intentions towards you."

Rachel sighed, contemplating, but quickly decided to simply go with the "code" she lived by. If you hold off on things that could bring you joy, just so you don't get hurt, then what's the point of it all?

Besides, what could really happen? If he wanted to harm her he could have done so already. For this to somehow play into his cards, he would have to have some seriously twisted and cruel end-game and she simply didn't think he did. He looked genuinely concerned about her well-being. Not to mention that every time he touched her over the evening her heart seemed to skip a beat and she simply didn't want the night to end just yet.

She reached for her keys and unlocked the door. Rather slowly she went inside and turned towards the handsome vampire standing on her porch, whose eyes seemed to follow her every move, all the while waiting patiently.

Taking a deep breath Rachel went over her decision one last time before she opened the door all the way, a small smile on her face.

"Would you like to come in, Mr. Mikaelson?"

* * *

 **AN:** Phew! That was quite the challenge, I've gotta say... I thought that since I read and watch and listen to pretty much everything in English, writing in this language would... well, not be easy, but definitely much more easy than it actually turned out to be...

Anyway, that's the first chapter. I know that barely anything happens, but look at it as some sort of introduction. Plus I do wanna know if there's even anybody out there who has interest in reading my story :)

I am also not entirely certain how explicit I am gonna be considering sex-scenes and such.

I also have no idea, at which point exactly it would turn from T to M rating.

Maybe you could give me some insight on that :)

I hope you enjoyed it and maybe want to read more. Since this is my first fanfic (and not even in my native language) I am really reliant on your thoughts, so please comment away. ;)

Hopefully until next time.


	2. Chapter 2

I know, I know, I was also like: Whaaaaat? Another chapter _already_? :D

No seriously, I just had to get this one out of the way, or rather out of my head, since I missed most of these moments from the first chapter. Stuff like the first Klaus/Rachel interaction or Rachel's, as well as Elijah's, thoughts on what happened that night she invited him in.

Anyway, I really hope you like it and I wanna thank you for the feedback you've given me so far. It truly made my day. :)

But please do not expect anymore updates in this frequency because it is definitely _not_ gonna happen. Writing in English is a serious pain in my butt, no matter how much I also enjoy it. I thought about maybe weekly or every two weeks at max... something like that, we'll see.

Enough from me, I hope you'll enjoy. :)

* * *

 **CHAPTER 2**

" _You know you should really consider doing something about the stick that's up your ass. Has to be quite uncomfortable.", Rachel mocked Elijah, who seemed only slightly amused._

" _Excuse me?", Elijah's eyebrows rose but a low chuckle escaped his lips._

" _You know, loosen up a little, doing what feels good, not overthinking every single little thing.", Rachel said, dragging the last words out. She grabbed his arm, pulling him towards her and started to move and jump uncontrollably, like a child may would. Initially planned as a way to show him how fun it could be to live without constant concerns, to just be free. This changed however when Rachel caught her foot on the coffee table only to be saved from a probably nasty fall by Elijah's steady arms._

 _Rachel clung to him as if afraid he would suddenly let go and she would start to fall again, while Elijah slowly maneuvered them into an upright position._

 _They stood like this for quite some time, neither of them moving their arms to let go of the other._

 _Rachel didn't know if it was his closeness, the look in his eyes or the fact to finally feel any strong arms embracing her after all this time, but she found herself moving even closer to him._

 _One of Elijah's hands slowly moved up from her back, entangling itself in her hair, as he studied her face staring mostly at her lips._

 _At the sight of this Rachel was filled with anticipation, not wanting to wait any longer she closed the remaining distance between them and pressed her lips softly against his..._

Waking up with a gasp, Rachel checked her surroundings, trying to find out where she was and why she was there.

Slowly, understanding set in, as did an immense headache. Groaning, she got up to get water and some aspirin but was interrupted by the realization that she was completely naked.

Frowning, she searched the room for any indications on why that was until she saw one of the far walls with a few picture frames, that had apparently fallen off, surrounding it. That was when she suddenly remembered being pressed up against it,... by...?

She slammed one of her hands over her mouth, a shocked look on her face. She didn't. She couldn't. She wouldn't... Or did she?

She did.

Trying to remain calm and to persuade herself into thinking that it wasn't that bad, Rachel just stood there and tried to take it all in. So what if she slept with a vampire she only just met? That didn't mean that she was stupid, or gullible or easy.

She somehow managed to compose herself a little bit, but mostly because the more events from last night started to come back to her the more all the self loathing feelings were replaced by completely different ones. As heat started to surge through her entire body she slapped her hands on the kitchen counter and tried to block out all the thoughts from last night.

After that Rachel went on about her day, trying to be at least a little bit productive without having the memories of last night prevent her from pretty much everything she set out to do.

She contemplated if she should visit some people, somehow announce that she was back in town, but decided against it. Sooner or later people would eventually find out and this way she wouldn't have to have that awkward, dreaded conversation with every last one of them.

Instead she decided to get settled in her old family home, cleaning, rearranging and unpacking all of her stuff.

The work proceeded without any difficulties or disturbances, mainly because she wouldn't allow any sort of interruptions. Working on all the things that displeased her around the house had somehow a mending effect on her. She didn't think about where she was, how her live was going nowhere, how there wasn't a single person left for her to rely on and how she apparently just threw herself at next best man who looked at her.

And it felt good, somehow, suppressing all these thoughts and inner troubles. She made a choice to never let anything or anyone keep her down ever again a long time ago and damn her if she was going to start now.

Funniest thing was, she had already made a mental note, that as soon as she was finished, had completely exhausted herself and it was time to go to bed, she would indulge in one of her little breakdowns. Crying and crying and crying, dwelling on everything that was wrong in her life, until she was done. It's a habit she picked up many years ago, after she first realized that building up a wall and pretending, even in front of herself, that things didn't get to her was _not_ the right way to go.

Instead she would try to function like a normal human-being and when she felt like she reached the limit she just waited for next moment to be alone and let it all out. There was only one person who was ever allowed to see her in this state and even attempt to comfort her. But since he wasn't there anymore either, she would have to go back to doing it by herself.

Of course she wouldn't recommend this method to anyone, because it was definitely not healthy either, but it kind of worked for her.

* * *

Waking up, Rachel felt – good. She was definitely in a better mood and felt a little bit lighter. Her little (or in this case rather big) breakdown apparently did his job.

She experienced the sensation of actually welcoming the day, so she got up to take a shower and get ready to enjoy it, before that feeling inevitably went away.

The morning went on without any particularities, she showered, prepared coffee and was about to go outside to enjoy it surrounded by fresh air when she saw a rather large package lying on her porch.

Suspiciously she looked around the neighborhood to determine if there were any signs of something unusual. Not seeing anything she grabbed the package, went back inside, set her mug down on her kitchen table and took the card out of the envelope.

PLEASE JOIN THE

 **Mikaelson Family**

THIS EVENING AT SEVEN O'CLOCK

FOR DANCING, COCKTAILS,

& CELEBRATION.

Flipping the card it read:

Rachel,

I hope you would do me the honor of accompanying me tonight.

Sincerely, Elijah.

Rachel frowned at the card in her hands, not fully comprehending what she had just read. In a few seconds curiosity won over and so she quickly opened the box to which the card had been attached to.

A loud gasp escaped her mouth at the sight before her. In her hand she held the most beautiful ballgown she had ever seen. It was dark green (amazing how he had picked up on that), strapless, with thin, sheer sleeves that would probably went to just below her elbows. The skirt was enormous and the entirety of the dress was crested with lace and rhinestones.

Words could not describe the numerous feelings that started to rush through Rachel at this very moment, she wanted to scream, cry and laugh, all at the same time, but in the end decided to get her phone and search for Elijah's number.

R: So, an actual ball, with fancy dresses and such... That's really a thing with you guys?

E: Yes, I believe it is.

R: Well, alright then. Expect to see me there, wearing a way to expensive but overall incredibly gorgeous dress someone seemed to have left on my porch.

E: I am unquestionably looking forward to it.

A huge smile formed on Rachel's lips and she somehow felt like sixteen again, standing there hugging her phone, nearly jumping from excitement, all because of some guy. Well... maybe not just _some_ guy.

She silently began to curse because she already knew that the next few hours would be a complete horror. Waiting impatiently until it was finally okay to get ready. Not to mention that this could be more than enough time to talk herself out of this, because what the hell was even going on?

A whatever-year old, smoking hot vampire who she had slept with in a drunken haze the first day they met, hadn't exchange one word with since, suddenly leaves an invitation to a ball combined with an ridiculously expensive dress at her doorstep? This all seemed to be ripped straight out of some fairy tale, not the crushing sensation of life she was used to deal with, and she grew more and more suspicious of it.

Many hours later Rachel stood in front of her large mirror, inspecting herself one final time. The dress Elijah provided her with fitted like a glove, it was almost creepy.

She styled her naturally wavy hair in slightly tighter curls and put some of the strands on the back of her head , letting the rest flow along her face, shoulder and back. She never liked it if her hair looked too tidy. Since Elijah bought (or however he obtained) her a dress in her favorite color she had plenty of suitable jewelry to choose from, settling on matching earrings, a necklace and a bracelet, all rather subtle, with small fake emeralds attached to them. For shoes she simply went with black high heels since nobody would really see them anyway and she only possessed two different pairs of high heels.

All in all she was surprisingly satisfied with her appearance. Which was saying something, since she never really saw herself as particular beautiful, no matter how many people had already told her otherwise. She knew of course, and couldn't deny that, she wasn't by any means ugly but she just didn't see in herself what others saw in her. However looking at her reflection right then she really did feel pretty and smiled at herself in the mirror.

* * *

Klaus was bored beyond measure.

There was just nothing to do in this bloody town. In the desperate need of entertainment he had already gone so far as to try and steal the girl from one of his hybrids, specifically his first successful hybrid – Tyler Lockwood.

He wasn't particularly interested in the girl, but it was a fun game for sure, one that his first hybrid surely deserved, seeing as his attitude towards his sire has been out of order one too many times. He was certain he would win her over sooner or later, he had played this game for centuries now. Right now she was probably debating with herself on whether or not she should attend tonight.

This evening however was a farce, whatever his mother was trying to proof, he wouldn't even think about trusting her. Her claims to have forgiven him may have taking him by surprise, and for the tiniest moment he caught himself wishing it'd be true, but in the end he knew better than that.

Klaus had just escaped another hollow conversation with people he didn't care about in the slightest as the arrival of a new face caught his attention.

Standing there by the door, taking of her coat, was a woman of exquisite beauty and if he had to rely on breath for survival he would have found himself in quite the dilemma, because she looked truly breathtaking.

Somehow he couldn't manage to stop looking at her as she watched her surroundings with an adorable fascination, before her gaze fell on him.

And there it was.

He couldn't describe it, it felt like she was magnetic or as if there was some invisible force trying to pull him to her, he couldn't fight it. And judging by the look on her face as she kept starring at him herself, lips slightly parted, it almost seemed like the sensation was mutual. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking.

His feelings however changed in a matter of seconds as he saw her look shifting to non other than his older brother, who was already on his way towards her in his oh-so elegant way.

Growing irritated at their seemingly pleasurable encounter, Klaus decided to intervene.

"Brother", he said as he made his way over to them and nearly slapped his hand on Elijah's shoulder. "I hope you have an acceptable reason for not introducing me to this lovely young lady over here.", Klaus said gesturing at her with his free hand.

"Yes, brother, of course.", Elijah narrowed his eyes at him. "How incredibly rude of me, greeting my guest as she arrives, instead of tugging her around to introduce her to you.", the dark-haired woman giggled quietly and obviously had trouble suppressing her amused expression at his brothers comeback, which made him even angrier than the comment itself.

"Rachel, this is my brother Niklaus. Niklaus this is Rachel Davis, a delightful young woman, I had the pleasure of meeting two days ago."

Cautiously Rachel held out her hand, apparently quite unsure of the customs in this house. Taking his time he took her hand and very slowly brought it up to meet his lips, satisfied at the sound of her slightly irregular heartbeat. "Pleasure.", he smiled at her charmingly, "And please, call me Klaus"

"The pleasure is all mine", she said with a rather cute fake British accent and a slightly mocking tone in her voice.

Klaus was definitely intrigued, to say the least.

* * *

Rachel was still kind of dumbstruck, looking around the house and all the people in their fancy clothes.

Elijah had excused himself, after getting her something to drink, which gave her time to process all the impressions pouring down on her. The most intriguing being Elijah's brother - Klaus.

It was mind-wrecking, their first encounter, from the second she saw him she didn't seem to be able to look away, completely consumed by his presence.

However, Rachel did not have much time to dwell on that, as she suddenly heard her name being called in an excited way by a familiar voice.

Turning towards the source of the voice, she flashed a smile, happy to see her but kind of surprised by the fact that she was here, too.

"Elena, hey!", she greeted the beautiful young woman, who she used to watch out for every now and then when her parents, Miranda and Grayson Gilbert, went out together. Well. Mainly she looked out for her brother Jeremy, since Elena was only 5 years younger than Rachel and pretty low maintenance.

Elena pulled her in for hug, startling Rachel a little but after a second she reciprocated it.

"Hey it's so good to see you, I didn't know you where back.", Elena said with a happy tone but she still seemed to be at unease for some reason, scanning the area surrounding them.

"Yeah, I arrived two days ago and wasn't really in the mood to go around and tell everyone", Elena nodded at her in an understanding manner.

"Yeah I get that", a sympathetic smile on the young girls face, "but what are doing _here_?"

"Oh, I-", Rachel began but was interrupted by the arrival of yet another handsome man, dark-haired with crazy blue eyes, asking Elena politely to speak with him privately, only acknowledging Rachel with a quick glance and weird smile.

A few moments later she had almost the exact same encounter with Caroline Forbes, only to be interrupted again, but this time by the announcement from Elijah and his family. Well strictly speaking, Elijah was the only one who spoke, the rest just stood near him on the huge staircase in the middle of the room, looking a little bit intimidating, but maybe she was just imagining that.

Directly after that Elijah came over to her, asking her to dance. Accepting, she took his arm and let him lead her towards the ballroom.

It was weird. Apparently every one seemed to know what they were doing, almost as if they had been practicing it but since she and Elijah were one of the last couples in line it wasn't that hard to keep up and simply follow the movements of the other dancers.

It was quiet nice, actually. Elijah was a good dancer and a strong lead and she felt comfortable with him. There was only one problem left to address.

"Listen Elijah, about the other night...", Rachel began and couldn't come up with the right words to say. She wanted him to know how sorry she was for pretty much throwing herself at him and that she didn't expect anything from him. Especially considering any kind of committing acts, such as the invitation to this ball.

"Don't worry", Elijah said as her struggle for words became clear to him, "If you don't want to, then there is no need to talk about it and if you do find yourself wanting to discuss the matter...", he looked at her with a convincing expression, "... you can do so any time."

Rachel smiled at him thankfully but before she could express her gratitude Elijah flung her away from him and into the arms of another dance partner.

"Klaus", she said a little short-breathed and wide-eyed. Of course it was him, who else could it have been? She had to suppress rolling her eyes, whilst slowly regaining her composure.

"Hello, love", he said, a confident smile on his face. She didn't say anything. Couldn't even think of saying anything, his closeness distracting her way too much.

At that moment Rachel dared herself to not break eye-contact, to hold it and not look away. It was quite the challenge, 'cause it seemed like an impossible thing to do - looking in his eyes and not be completely consumed by them. And she _so_ hated not being in control.

Moreover, it was not like his eyes were the only thing that completely threw her of guard. There were more. Like his cute dimples that showed on his face every time he smirked or smiled at her, or his full lips which looked so inviting it was hard to not take them up on their offer, not to mention all of his soft, yet very masculine facial features she just wanted to run her fingers along or his short blond curls daring her to run her hands through them... It was enchanting.

And then there was the fact that even though he obviously was also a vampire, he seemed to radiate body-heat, just like an actual living person would do, it confused and intrigued her to an annoying amount.

"You know", Rachel finally managed to speak up, "I always thought that with these kind of dances the hand of the male partner is supposed to be way higher than yours is", she narrowed her eyes at him. "Like, just beneath the shoulder-blade."

"Is that so?", Klaus' expression lightened up and he suddenly had an almost devilish smile on his face. "Then please, let me correct my mistake", he said in a low voice and of course did not just remove his hand and placed it on the proper position but slowly slid it up her back before resting it on the right place.

His voice combined with his touch was simply to much for her, she felt like there were thousands of butterflies rummaging through her stomach it almost made her want to vomit, that's how intense it was.

He obviously recognized the affects his actions had and smirked at her as if immensely satisfied with himself. Rachel stopped to move and let go of him, it was just to much, she had to escape.

"Excuse me", she managed to say before she fled the room.

* * *

Klaus walked back around the house wanting to retreat from the festivity. He was angry at Caroline, because of the rather crushing talk they had outside, earlier that night. How dare she talk back to him like this? She should feel honored that he would even stoop to her level, giving her any sort of attention.

He would have gladly done something rather cruel to her but thanks to his mothers toast shortly after, he was once again reminded of her wishes for a peaceful coexistence.

Besides, now that he had time to calm down it was probably for the best anyway. The attempts of the Gilbert's and Salvatore's and their pity little friends to somehow get rid of him were really getting on his last nerve and he knew if he had killed Caroline, they would be even more inclined to do something.

Klaus walked by the room where he kept several of his paintings and drawings and recognized a familiar figure studying them.

Rachel Davis.

He was fascinated by her but couldn't pinpoint why exactly. Of course she was extraordinary beautiful but that was rather obvious, since she had received even more looks from the men tonight than that atrocious Petrova-girl. If he wasn't mistaken he even caught his oldest brother Finn glancing at her more than once.

"Interested in art, are we?", he spoke up to make his presence known and she jumped slightly, obviously having been in deep thought.

"More or less", she replied, running her fingers over one of the drawings next to her.

He walked up to her rather carefully as to not scare her away and made a stop at a respectable distance next to her.

"Do you not enjoy my work?", Klaus asked and put on an offended look.

"These are yours?", she asked with slight disbelieve and Klaus simply nodded at her. "Well in that case I obviously meant to say that they all look really great", Rachel said with an apologetic look on her face but clear sarcasm in her voice.

Klaus chuckled and stepped closer to her. "You can say whatever is on your mind, love, I won't bite."

She looked at him with an almost scowling expression for his bad joke and started to move away, clearly uncomfortable with his closeness.

"Is it me or has Elijah already garnered all of your affections?"

Rachel continued to look at paintings only glancing up at him as she replied: "Actually my affections lie somewhere else entirely."

Klaus raised his eyebrows, confused at what she was saying. "Well, I do hope my brother is aware of this. I would so hate for him to get the wrong idea."

"Would you?", Rachel looked up at him disbelievingly but focused back on what lay in front of her. "Besides I don't think he would mind that much, seeing as he's dead."

He furrowed his brows. "Yes", he began, not seeing where she was getting at or what that had to do with anything, "for quite some time now."

"I wasn't talking about your brother.", this time her eyes didn't meet his and slowly, realization began to sink in.

"I am sorry to hear that", he said with as much sincerity as he could muster.

"Isn't everybody?", she murmured but suddenly shifted, standing straight and looking directly at him, arms crossed. "Seriously, wouldn't it be kind of funny if people wouldn't express how sorry they are but instead say something like... I don't know... 'Good riddance.' or something.", she joked but it was obvious that she used it as a cover-up, deeply affected by the topic.

He tried to come up with something to say or do, but was at kind of a lost. It didn't seem necessary though as she started walking towards the door, telling him that she needed to get some fresh air.

* * *

Angry. Confused. Sad. Rachel was feeling all of that as she made her way to the exit. A complete lack of understanding was starting to surge through her as she wondered why Klaus had chosen to be so flirtatious with her in the first place. She asked herself if she did something to lead him on, dismissing the thought rather quickly, convinced that she wouldn't do that, especially when she had slept with his brother not two days ago. Not to mention that said act itself was already a huge mistake on his own.

She was already out of the house and on her way home, when she realized that it would be incredibly rude to just take off without saying goodbye, at least to Elijah. He never did anything to her, besides making her feel good. All the other feelings attached to their shared night were hers alone to bear and not his fault at all.

When Rachel turned around to do so she suddenly saw a huge shadow at her feet, which seemed to grow in size in a manner of seconds. But before she could look up to see what was happening she had already been crushed to the ground and then everything went dark...

* * *

Two days. Only two days he knew this woman and already her life was endangered because of his own family. Given that this time it wasn't just one of his that was to blame, but the older Salvatore-brother as well.

But why did he had to persuade her in the first place? Why did he had to invite her to this ludicrous event?

Especially the first question had been in his mind ever since he left her house two nights ago.

He couldn't explain it, couldn't grasp what sensation had let him to do what he did. It was as if his brain was on pause as soon as he walked into her house.

Somehow she had managed to transfer her lightness to him and he found himself not caring anymore, not about what he should or shouldn't do, not about what was right or wrong, not about anything really except her intoxicating scent, those hazelnut eyes starring at him and the fact that he wanted to have her. And so he did.

It was an act that he somehow regretted immensely and at the same time not at all.

Of course it had been incredibly pleasurable, but it wasn't right.

Inviting her tonight was his way of trying to do the right thing, trying to turn his misbehavior around, but as it was apparent it only mad things worse. And not just because she got hurt, which was bad enough, but because he wasn't blind. He saw the stares that she and his brother shared, her slightly dilated pupils...

He couldn't even tell if his dislike about the two of them surfaced out of jealousy or sheer pity for the woman, any woman really, his brother laid eyes on.

He sat with her on the couch where they had laid her to rest and recover, deep in his thoughts, blocking out his brothers who were bickering about which party was to blame for the situation at hand, as she slowly started to regain consciousness...

* * *

 **AN:** Gwwwaaaaahhhh! Mush! My brain is mush!

In Germany it's like 1am and I've been at this for hours but I wanted to finish it so badly. D:

I'm sorry for the rather abrupt end, it was supposed to be a little bit longer but I am just so done! :D

I've gotta say getting into the mindset of Elijah and Klaus is quite difficult. Especially since I haven't invented them... Anyway I hope I do them at least a little justice. :)

Oh and as you saw I haven't been descriptive at all considering the sweet sweet lovin' between Elijah and Rachel :D I'm still not sure if I'm going to change that in the future. I honestly have no idea if I could even write that stuff without it ending up to be completely awkward.

But maybe I'm gonna get some input from one of you guys. :)

That's it from me, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm gonna sit here, waiting and hoping for your feedback. :)

Until next time! :)

(P.S.: Sorry if the description of the dress seems a little odd. I had a few problems with vocabulary, especially since I don't even know the German words to describe those dresses :D )


	3. Chapter 3

Heeey! It's me again! :D

I just wanna say thank you very much! The feedback so far has been wonderful. :)

A special thanks to yasminasfeir1, Smi94, Rrachelle2000, Rbenham2 and of course the guest reviewer :) Thank you for taking the time to write something. :)

It is your criticism, which is not only appreciated, but is what makes me better, just as your lovely words are what makes me wanna keep going. ;)

I think I said everything I wanted to say, so I'll leave you alone with chapter number 3. :D

I hope you'll enjoy. :)

* * *

 **CHAPTER 3**

Slowly Rachel opened her eyes and tried to figure out where she was and what had happened. As far as she could tell she was lying on a soft surface surrounded by three man.

One, sitting next to her, was Elijah, another one, standing a little farther away, was Klaus and the third one, Rachel recognized as Kol, another one of Elijah's brothers which she hadn't really talked to yet.

"Hello gorgeous", Kol spoke up, "terribly sorry for falling on you, even if _technically_ I was being pushed and therefore am _not_ at fault", he raised his hands in defense but was specifically looking at Klaus at this point, who just glared daggers at him in return.

Rachel blinked a few times to fully regain her vision and looked at Kol with furrowed brows. "Thanks, I guess."

"Oh don't thank _me_.", Kol said laying a hand on his chest. "I suggested to simply make a good meal out of you.", he said with a certain intonation and looked at her as if stating the obvious. "It's these two you have two thank for still being here", Kol pointed toward Klaus and Elijah and Rachel's brows draw together even further.

"Ignore him.", Elijah spoke up and gently stroked her arm with the back of his hand. "How do you feel?"

Rachel reluctantly tore her judging and disapproving gaze away from Kol to look at Elijah. "Good, I guess... I don't know", she slowly put a hand to the back of her head and flinched a little as pain erupted in it. "What even happened?"

"It appears that my brother, Kol", Elijah said and gestured towards said man, "found himself in quite a dispute with some of the other guests and somehow managed to be thrown down the balcony", Elijah explained and shot Kol a dirty look.

"Yes, but don't worry, you delivered a wonderful performance as a landing-bag", Kol said, smirk on his face.

At the look that both Elijah and Klaus gave him, Kol raised both of hands in defeat. "Fine, I'll go. You two are really touchy today.", he said as he made his way out of the room, closely followed by Klaus, who apparently wasn't finished with their conversation.

Rachel had followed the entire exchange with equal parts of amusement and concern. What had she gotten herself into? But then Elijah's gentle voice reminded her how she got here in the first place.

"I know it may sound a little presumptuous but I really would prefer it if you spend the night here, just to be sure that there isn't any serious internal damage."

He was right, it was presumptuous - especially considering the words that just came out of his brothers mouth. But something about him looking at her so genuinely concerned made her want to stay and be taking care of by him, so she found herself slowly nodding at his offer.

"Do you have something I could wear? This dress is a little uncomfortable."

"Sure", he smiled at her and started to stand up before Rachel put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"And while we're at this: Thank you for the dress. It's really beautiful.", she smiled sincerely at Elijah.

"I would suggest that it's the person wearing it but either way, you are very welcome.", he said, just as sincere and as soon as he stood, he scooped her up in his arms.

It was rather awkward, being carried by him like this. Memories started to resurface and she blushed slightly, trying to avert his eyes.

As they made it to one of the many bedrooms this house apparently had, Elijah used his foot to push open the door and set her down on the bed before going over to a surprisingly empty closet. The bedroom was enormous, simple and elegant, but given the look of this house in general, it wasn't really surprising and Rachel found herself not giving it much thought.

After a few seconds Elijah came back, handing her a pair of boxer shorts and a plain black shirt, apologetic expression on his face. "I'm afraid that's all I can offer."

"It's fine, really", Rachel said and silently asked him for his hand to support her attempt to stand up and get changed, which he offered immediately.

After Elijah successfully lifted her up, Rachel turned around. "Would you mind?", she asked and pointed at her back. Seconds later Rachel felt Elijah's hand slowly working the zipper of her dress, softly grazing her skin in the process.

He stood so close, Rachel could feel his breath on her neck and had to suppress a shudder, that threatened to pass through her body.

"Thanks", she shifted to face him wearing a small, wary smile, which he returned. He then turned around as to let her change into the clothes he provided her with. Rachel's smile grew wider at his well-mannered behavior as she proceeded to strip off her dress and put on the clothes.

Once she laid under the blankets of the incredibly comfortable bed, Elijah turned back around and set down next to her.

Tiredly, Rachel rubbed her right eye only to discover that her finger was now covered in black mascara. She let out small, displeased groan. "See?", Rachel pouted slightly as she hold her finger in front of Elijah's face. "That's the reason I hate wearing make-up!"

He just smiled sweetly at her before running his thump along her eye, removing the smudged make-up. "Well, you certainly don't need it.", he said while his finger went from his former task to lightly stroking her cheek. "Sleep now, you need to rest."

As soon as the words left his mouth Rachel let out a small yawn. His soothing touch had a very calming affect on her, so she closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep almost immediately.

* * *

Klaus sat in his study, listening to Kol and Rebekah as they bickered about her latest indiscretions. He was equally amused, bored and annoyed but didn't contribute anything to their conversation.

He suddenly heard someones approaching footsteps, knowing who they belonged to he felt a little relief wash over him. She had slept so long, he had started to get worried.

Why that was, was beyond him. He shouldn't care and he knew that Kol was right with every single one of his remarks last night. Still he just wanted to rip out his jugulars for saying these things.

In the corner of his eyes he saw the expected brown-to-blonde hair slowly appearing in the door frame as the head they were attached to cautiously peeked around the corner.

"It's alright, love. You can come in", Klaus said to her, trying to keep his demeanor toward her as neutral as possible.

She did as she was told and slowly walked inside the room, wearing boxer-shorts and a shirt, both of which obviously belonging to Elijah, a fact that somehow made him incredibly angry.

"Morning", Rachel greeted everyone in the room, giving them a wary smile before settling down on the opposite end of the couch Klaus was sitting on.

Rebekah simply gave her a dirty look and went out of the room, for what particular reason he didn't know but it probably had something to do with Rachel being female. Rebekah tended to hate other women.

Rachel however had definitely picked up on his sisters behavior and gazed after her with a puzzled expression.

"Don't mind her, love", Klaus spoke up and smiled reassuringly.

"Yes, she is probably just mad at herself, for being such a strumpet!", Kol raised his voice at the last four words, obviously wanting to make sure Rebekah heard it.

His words seemed to confuse Rachel even more and her eyebrows rose questioningly.

"Don't mind him, either", Klaus said, smiling at her again, only this time she reciprocated it and he felt how this simple action lightened up his mood entirely.

Carefully though, to not scare away again, he focused back on his sketchbook, only letting his gaze wander over her bare legs for a way-to-short amount of time, luckily she didn't seem to notice.

"Is there any chance to get some coffee in this house?", Rachel asked, looking between him and Kol.

Before Klaus could say something, Kol started to speak: "Ah, who needs coffee, let's get a drink!", he exclaimed with a big grin on his face.

"A drink?", Rachel asked in disbelieve, "How late is it? How long did I sleep?"

"Quite some time, love", Klaus answered her, before his eyes narrowed at Kol "No...", was all he said.

"Oh Nik, come on! I'm bored!", Kol practically whined, "Besides you owe me for dagge-"

"Fine", he interrupted Kol. He didn't want Rachel to find out about what he truly was, not yet. He wanted to prolong the inevitable as long as possible.

Kol looked satisfied and now eyed Rachel, obviously wanting to know if she would come too.

"Sure... why not", Rachel shrugged with a distrusting and attentive look, which was quite understandable, given Kol's latest statements.

"Perfect", Kol clapped and rubbed his hands together. "But you do maybe want to get changed into something less provoking first, darling." Kol said with a pointing look at Rachel, who raised her eyebrows in disbelieve.

"Oh really? Well thanks _so_ much Captain Obvious, what would I do without you.", Rachel replied, sarcasm pretty much dripping from her words.

Klaus could see Kol's expression shift, already putting on his rather flirtatious smile, no doubt a witty comeback about to come out of his mouth.

"You", Klaus said, interrupting Kol and turning in his direction, "go ahead. I will drive Rachel back home so she can get changed. We'll catch up with you", he stated matter-of-factly.

"Hey, what? Wait a second. Why exactly am I not able to do that on my own?", Rachel scowled at him.

"Well, someone has to drive your car back to your place and it's certainly not gonna be you. We still don't know for sure how bad your injuries are and I would rather we won't find out while you are alone, in a speeding car.", Klaus said, growing slightly irritated.

"You're weirdly concerned about my well-being.", Rachel frowned and Klaus felt a muscle in his jaw twitch for being put on the spot.

"Chalk it up to general benevolence, now let's go.", Klaus nearly growled at her, which had Rachel crossing her arms and rolling her eyes at him but at least she started to walk towards the exit.

* * *

Rachel sat in her car, arms crossed to keep her coat closed over her slightly exposed body, as she looked out of the window rather grudgingly, trying to ignore Klaus as best as she could.

It was ridiculous, he wouldn't even let her drive her own car... Not to mention how incredibly weird all of this was in the first place.

Here she was, sitting in her car, driven by the vampire brother of her vampire one-night stand, going to get a drink with another one of their brothers, also a vampire, quite a maniac one as it seemed.

She wondered if this really was just some twisted game they were playing, especially considering that she didn't really know anything about them, except that they seemed really old, were loaded as fuck (but thanks to compulsion, every vampire could be) and all looked like hand-sculpted by god himself.

Yet somehow Rachel felt like that at least the interactions between her and Klaus came naturally to her, not forced or uncomfortable. Except for the tension that still lingered between them, but at least it wasn't nearly as intense as last night.

"Stop over there.", Rachel said pointing towards her house and Klaus complied.

They got out of the car and walked up to her door while Rachel nervously fidgeted with her keys, contemplating whether or not to let him come inside.

After she opened the door, Rachel turned around to face Klaus, giving him a look as if to tell him to better behave himself, which he returned with an overly exaggerated, innocent expression, making him almost look like a lost puppy.

Rachel just sighed and rolled her eyes, ignoring what that simple look alone was doing to her, before she fully opened door. "You can come in if you want."

"With _pleasure_ ", smiling at her delectably, Klaus stepped over the threshold, hands behind his back as he started to look around her living room.

"Just make yourself comfortable, I won't be long", Rachel said and was already on her way upstairs.

After grabbing some clothes to wear, not giving it much thought how they'd look, Rachel went to the bathroom to throw in a quick shower. She secured her hair in a messy bun on top of her head, since she was in absolutely no mood to blow-dry them, stepped into the shower and let the warm water work its wonders.

After fifteen minutes or so Rachel was fully dressed, in jeans, a dark green top and a brown cardigan, hair entangled and brushed, hanging loosely over her back and shoulders and was on her way downstairs.

Klaus waited for her, leaning against the door frame of her living room, hands in the pocket of his coat and head slightly titled. It looked like some picture out of a fall fashion catalog and Rachel found that in that moment, he looked so good it almost physically hurt. It didn't get better when he slowly lifted his head to meet her eyes while his mouth curved into a smile.

Rachel sighed inwardly, annoyed with herself for being so thrown of by his appearance. But it wasn't just his looks that astonished her, it was his entire behavior toward her.

Why should he be so nice? He was a vampire, he should have rather little regard for human life, especially one that he knew for just one day and yet here he was, proofing the opposite.

Putting a pin in it, Rachel decided to just let it be and stop making herself go crazy over it, at least for now.

She and Klaus had agreed to walk to the Mystic Grills. It wasn't far and the weather was really nice. She loved this type of weather, Spring and Fall in general, not too warm, not too cold, sometimes it rained, sometimes it was sunny, sometimes it was windy, other times a nice combination of them.

On their way Klaus asked Rachel all kinds of questions about her life. Where she came from, what she was doing, how she lived here whilst not being noticed by him.

Rachel answered everything honestly, telling him that she was born in Richmond, was adopted when nine years old, which was when she moved, or rather was moved, to Mystic Falls and that she hadn't lived here for the last two years.

He seemed inclined to ask more as he suddenly stopped in his tracks, holding a hand over his chest, his expression hardening.

Shocked, not knowing what to do, Rachel laid a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?", she asked, concern in her voice.

Just as she gently squeezed his shoulder and opened her mouth to ask him again, his face shifted and he started to glare angrily in the direction they were headed.

"Kol...", was all he spit out before he disappeared from her sight in a matter of seconds, leaving a very confused Rachel behind.

At a lost, she decided to try and find something out, starting with the Mystic Grill, since, for all she knew, that's where Kol was supposed to be.

After a few minutes she arrived at her desired location only to witness an encounter that somehow appeared as if she should stay out of sight, so that's what she did.

" _You tell me where the witches are or I'll have my sister kill Elena right now."_

Rachel's eyes widened in shock. It was Elijah's voice, no doubt, but the words he said... It was probably very naive of her but she just couldn't imagine Elijah saying something like that. She was used to his words being so considered and gentle, but then again – how could you be used to anything from someone you've known for three days?

Since Rachel had no idea how to even attempt to help Elena, she decided to at least try to get some answers from the only person she thought willing to give them to her. Caroline.

* * *

An hour later, a heart as heavy as lead and a mind as confused as can be, Rachel aimlessly wandered through Mystic Fall, trying and failing to process everything she had just learned.

At first Caroline was rather reluctant to give away anything but very soon after she started to spill out everything, reminding Rachel of the gossip-prone Caroline she used to know.

It apparently all started with the death of Elena's parents, the arrival of a vampire named Stefan Salvatore and his and Elena's epic love story. (Caroline's words, not hers.)

After that everything went down the drain. From a maybe nice, mostly not-so-nice, ulterior motives-having brother of Stefan's called Damon, to a tomb full of starving vampires, to doppelgangers, more precisely Katherine, an ancestor of Elena, who looked exactly like her and was the one that turned Caroline into a vampire, along with some other fucked up shit. Extending to a not-so-real sun and moon curse, to the hybrid curse, to the Originals...

The Originals. The first vampires in existence and according to rumor (as well as to Caroline), one more ruthless than the other. Five of them. Siblings. The sixth, their father, had just recently been killed by one of his sons. Klaus - The Original Hybrid.

Her head was spinning, somehow trying to comprehend this knowledge but seemed unable to do so.

After some time of running around, feeling confused, betrayed, hurt, sad and overall miserable, Rachel found herself in front of her house, it wasn't even on purpose but her feet just carried her here anyway.

Looking at the weather-beaten white fence, the beige facade under the green tiles and the dark wooden door Rachel felt her stomach coiling up in knots. She had invited two of the most powerful vampires in existence into her home. How was she ever supposed to feel save here again?

Slowly she walked up to the front door, fishing her keys out of her purse as she heard something move behind her. Startled, she turned around and screamed at the brown eyes starring down at her.

"Elijah", Rachel exhaled, holding a hand over a chest as if it would somehow slow down her rapidly beating heart.

He looked at her as if deeply troubled, seemingly displeased with or at something and after everything Rachel had learned today she just hoped to god it wasn't her.

"I didn't mean to scare you.", he said, "I'm deeply sorry."

"Oh no you didn't.", Rachel answered. Not because it was true but because she didn't want to further upset him. "I'm naturally jumpy.", she said, plastering a smile on her face.

His mouth twitched slightly but overall he remained serious. "I came here to tell you something."

"Yeah? What's that?", Rachel asked, still wary, finding herself taking half a step away from him.

"I want you to know that I am leaving.", Elijah's expression grew a little more sad now, "I wanted to say goodbye."

This had Rachel at a lost and suddenly all of her attentiveness and fear were washed away to be replaced by confusion.

He wanted to leave? Why? Did she do something wrong? And why on earth was she displeased by this? She should feel relieved...

"I- I- uh.. I don't know what to say.", slight despair crossed over her face as she verbalized the only thing she could think of at that moment. "Why?"

Remorse clouded his features as he started to answer her. "I have committed numerous deeds I am not proud of..."

"You mean like threatening Elena's life to save you and your siblings from being killed by your mother?", Rachel asked, eyebrows raised, silently wondering were her boldness came from.

Elijah's jaw set and he looked a little taken aback. "You know?"

Rachel nodded, crossing her arms to keep her coat closed as the cold breeze sent shivers all over her body. Or maybe it was something else...

"Well, yes that is in fact one of the things... Over my time on this earth I have done many things that I find to be deeply disturbing. All in the name of protecting those closest to me.", he sighed quietly, "My family."

Rachel didn't say anything, instead she thought about how wrong it was to constantly put your family's lives above all others and at the same time she wondered how nice it must be to have such devoting feelings towards them to begin with.

"However", Elijah's voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she saw him adjust his jacket before continuing to speak. "If I am to remain in their immediate reach, I am much more prone to interject should any further incidents occur, putting more innocent lives at risk by doing so."

Rachel looked at him with understanding and, for that moment, completely forgot what she learned about him that day. She just saw a troubled man, willing to do whatever it took for his family's safety while being incommensurate with the means that were required to do so. She felt sorry for him somehow.

Taking a deep breath Rachel looked at him, brows drawing together just a little bit. "Why are you telling me this?", She honestly didn't understand, but really needed to know.

Elijah gave her a half-smile before answering. "Because in the short amount of time we spent together I grew to appreciate your company. It seemed wrong to not inform you about my departure. I also did not want you think that it had anything to do with you or our...", Elijah shifted a little as if unconformable phrasing it, "... night together." Realization dawned on her face.

"Elijah", Rachel began, pure honesty in her voice, "You don't own me anything.", she tried to catch his eyes to convince him, that she truly meant what she said, "It was nice. Meeting you... But I've known you for _three_ days. Just because my drunken ass jumped you the first chance it got, doesn't mean you're obligated to me in any way."

Rachel saw the corner of Elijah's mouth turning up at her poorly chosen words, which got her smiling, too. She didn't like his serious, stern expression. At least she definitely didn't prefer it.

Suddenly Elijah's hand was on the side of her face, tracing the corner of her mouth with his thump, looking slightly conflicted. Rachel tried to control her heartbeat as her eyes locked onto his lips, before she managed to stare at her feet instead, steadying her breathing.

He titled her head to make her look him in the eyes, which now seemed to pierce right through her.

"I want you to know, that no matter what pain you have endured or what tragedy may still awaits you, you will manage to fight through it. You have a light about you, that you somehow managed to carry through everything, and I wish for you that you'll never loose it", with that Elijah's lips pressed against her forehead, lingering there for a moment, only for him to suddenly vanish into thin air, leaving behind a baffled and highly disturbed Rachel.

* * *

 **AN** : And that was chapter 3. :)

It's funny how I always work hours on those chapters and going back over them I feel like I've barely written anything. D:

However I want you to know that the next update is probably gonna take a little while. I'm not sure. Could be 5 days, a week, two weeks... I don't know. I'm like Damon on this one, I rather keep the bar low so I don't have to live up to anyone's expectations. :D

But mostly it's because putting up pressure is just gonna have negative effects on the story or my life in general, and I, personally, want neither. :D

That's it from me, I wish you all a nice and restful weekend (or week, or whatever is suiting when you read this :D )


	4. Chapter 4

Heeey guys! :D

Thank you all very much for your feedback, it's heartwarming, it really is. :)

Rbenham2: Oh there are definitely going to be more scenes between them, but they're probably going to be less friendly for a while. :D – also: thank you for your feedback. :)

yasminasfeir1: Thank you very much ^-^ and no, it doesn't sound dramatic, don't worry. :D I'm right there with you. I have so many things planed, like big events that I am so excited about but won't happen 'til TVD Season 5 or TO Season 2 and I can't just skip to them and completely drop character development and such, it drives me crazy. :D

Enough rambling, here comes chapter 4! :D

* * *

 **CHAPTER 4**

 _A little girl with long brown hair and large brown eyes sat in the middle of a beautiful children's room, it was mostly white, with a few purple and ebony accents every here and there. She was surrounded by a ridiculous amount of toys, but was mainly occupied with building, what seemed like a fortress, out of Lego bricks._

 _An older woman walked into room and smiled down at the little kid, her resemblance to the girl was more than obvious. "Hello little one. Having fun?", she spoke up with a loving voice._

" _Yes mommy.", the little girl answered and smiled brightly at her mother._

" _That's nice, now come here and give mommy a hug, you sick freak of nature", the woman said, her loving and cheerful tone not matching her words at all._

 _The little girl however ran to her with a big smile in her face and hugged the woman tightly. "My little girl, my lovely abomination", the woman sighed in content, detached herself from the hug and held her daughters arms, looking at her as if she was the most precious thing in the world. "How could anyone ever love you?", she asked as she smiled widely and caressed the little girls cheek._

 _A man walked into the room, with short brown hair and a slightly darker skin tone. "What's our little freak up to today, huh?", he asked as he kneed down next to the woman and gave his daughter a kiss on her head, softly stroking her hair._

 _The little girl smiled brightly at her parents and turned around to her toys, to show them what she had created, but as she turned back, the man and the woman were on fire. They didn't look affected by it however, they didn't scream in pain, they just smiled contentedly at the little girl._

" _Mommy? Daddy?", the girls lower lip trembled as she was on the verge of crying._

" _How could you do this to us?" , the man said in a sing-song voice, as both of them were closing in on the little girl, all the while smiling sweetly at her. "Why, Rachel? Why did you do this to us?"_

Rachel woke up with a loud gasp and a racing heart. She immediately sat up straight and ran her hands over her face, wiping away the hair that had stuck to her sweaty face.

Her gaze roamed frantically through the entire room, searching for something to focus on as she tried to get a hold on herself, before she finally manged to steady her breathing a little.

Still shaking, Rachel held a hand against her forehead, closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the headboard, failing to push the horrifying images of her dream out of her head.

Looking over to her nightstand she saw that it was only 5:30 in the morning, which was way too early on any day, but since she couldn't find any sleep last night, it was even worse.

Until 4 o'clock Rachel had tossed and turned in her bed, trying to find some rest, but the thoughts about Klaus, Elijah, and everything that had happened in this town since her departure, had denied her the satisfaction of sleep.

As she slowly lay back down again, she kept her eyes glued to the alarm-clock, somehow hoping that the monotony of watching the numbers change every second, would help her push back all the thoughts and memories her dream had brought back to the surface. Closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath, Rachel let her gaze wander away from the clock to the framed picture next to it.

It showed herself hugging a good-looking guy, average height, beautiful face, crystal-blue eyes and blond hair. They were looking at each other with big smiles on their faces. Rachel remembered this picture being taken by a friend of theirs, without them knowing. They looked so happy in that moment.

She took the picture in her hand and turned on her back, starring at it with many different emotions, as she glided her fingers over the portrayed figure next to her. Dylan. Words could not describe how much she missed him.

Tears started to fill her eyes, as Rachel wondered why he had to be taken away from her, too, why her life had to be such a constant disaster.

Before Dylan, she somehow managed to get through everything, always came out the other end, remained optimistic, welcomed the possibility of her life eventually starting to turn around. And it was good, somehow, that she did that, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to let him in, let him love her, let him make her happy... but then again – where did that got him? And where had it left her? How could she still believe that one day, the happiness she knew existed and was lucky enough to experience a few times in her live, how could she still believe that she would find that again, and even if she did, that it would finally remain forever. On the thought of forever, Rachel's hand automatically reached to the beautiful golden ring she wore as a necklace, reminding her once again that forever could end rather quickly.

Considering in what kind of situation she had managed to get herself into now, the thought of ever being that happy again was even harder to believe. If only he'd still be there. If he'd still be here, none of this would have happened. She wouldn't have slept with Elijah, she wouldn't have met Klaus, and even if she had, she wouldn't have looked twice at him, she never had while she and Dylan had been together, especially not after they had been engaged. It had always been just him.

Her knuckles turned white as Rachel clutched the picture tighter, angry at herself for getting worked up over this again, when it wouldn't change anything about it. So she vigorously put the picture back, jerked the blanket of her body and decided to just get up and go about her day.

An hour later Rachel sat in the living room, the controller of her Xbox next to her and the pause menu of Red Dead Redemption showing on the television screen. Normally this would help. A good game had always been able to let Rachel completely dive into a world of her choosing, it was the best distraction from life she could think of. But today was an exceptionally bad day, she just couldn't muster up the energy to do anything, whatsoever. Every activity she came up with, was discarded a second later.

Fighting the temptation to throw her controller across the room in frustration, Rachel heard her stomach growl, which added to the annoyance she felt toward this crappy day. At least she could hope that going shopping would somehow help turn it around.

* * *

Rachel was on her way to the grocery store as she saw two familiar figures standing on the sidewalk. They were both dressed in sportswear and seemed to be out of breathe.

"Elena, Matt. Hey.", she smiled at them, but had a concerned expression on her face as she looked at Elena, silently asking her if she was alright after everything that happened yesterday. Elena just gave her an almost unnoticeable nod, as if to say, that she would somehow manage.

"Rachel!", Matt exclaimed in a cheerful but still breathless tone, before he hugged her, "I heard you're back in town."

Rachel nodded and scratched her head uncomfortably. Now that she knew what happened in her absence, she felt kind of guilty for leaving, especially considering that she had cut all ties to her life in this town, including leaving her phone behind so no one could reach her.

"Yeah, a few days ago", she informed Matt, "How is everything with you? How's school treating you?"

"I pull through, somehow. We can't all be mathematical geniuses like you.", he joked and Rachel chuckled lightly.

Just as Matt opened his mouth again they were interrupted by the sound of Elena's phone, who apparently, was receiving a call from Sheriff Forbes. Rachel looked questioningly at Elena, wondering why the Sheriff would call her. "Hey what was that about?", Rachel asked, immediately regretting butting up in her business like that.

"It's about Alaric, he got into trouble.", she said as concern crossed her features. "I have to go to him", she turned to Matt with an apologetic look, who just nodded in understatement.

"Wait, did you just say Alaric?", Rachel questioned, not believing that it was actually him, it couldn't be. The coincidence would be too much. But then again, she went from North Carolina, to Virginia, back to North Carolina and back to Virginia again, it wouldn't be that far of a stretch to assume Alaric somehow made his way to Virginia as well. Besides – how many people were called Alaric?

"Yeah, Alaric Saltzman, he takes care of Jeremy and me, ever since Jenna...", Elena didn't finished the sentence, as sadness clouded her features and she didn't need to. "Why do you ask?"

"I think I know him.", Rachel said, still not completely convinced herself, even though Elena mentioning his last name didn't leave anything to chance anymore. It was definitely him. "Would you mind if I come with you?", she asked and Elena just nodded quickly, obviously in a hurry to get there.

Both of them waved their hands to say goodbye to Matt and started walking towards the station. They didn't stay silent for long as Elena began to speak almost immediately.

"So I haven't gotten the chance to talk to you since the ball. I wanted to stay after the whole balcony incident, but Elijah asked me not to and ensured that you would be taken care off. Were you?"

"Yes, actually, given the circumstances and ignoring the fact that Kol was there, it was surprisingly alright", Rachel answered, thinking back to the night where everything had already been complicated and confusing enough, if she had only known how much worse it would get.

"Good", Elena said and looked genuinely glad. "So... please don't get this the wrong way, but what were you doing there anyway?" Rachel could hear how ill at ease Elena was with the whole topic.

"I ran into Elijah two days before the ball, I didn't know who or what he was, we had a nice talk and so I accepted his invitation", Rachel explained, hoping the answer would satisfy Elena. Of course it didn't.

"He invited you to the ball, after just meeting you? That seems strange.", she said thoughtful, probably trying to think of an ulterior motive Elijah could have had for his actions.

"Yeah, well, I guess he was just in need of a date and knew I was available.", Rachel replied, deciding to definitely not go into further detail regarding her first meeting with Elijah.

Elena paused for a moment and looked at Rachel sympathetically, who was now standing, too. "I'm sorry, I didn't even ask you how you were holding up."

At the moment Rachel realized how thankful she was that Dylan used to live in Mystic Falls and still had relatives living here. Everybody already knew he was dead, she didn't had to tell everyone and go through the pain over and over again. "I'm fine", she lied for the umpteenth time, "And I'm sorry about your parents, they were really lovely people.", Rachel said sincerely and Elena nodded thankfully at her, before they both started walking again.

As Elena and Rachel walked into the station they ran into the man Rachel had met at the Mikaelson ball, the one with raven-black hair and crazy blue eyes. Thanks to her new-gained knowledge Rachel assumed that this had to be either Stefan or Damon and considering the bad-boy vibes he almost radiated, Rachel placed him as the latter.

As they started having something that could be interpreted as an argument, Rachel excused herself to go and find out where they were holding Ric, and most importantly trying to convince the Sheriff to allow her to see him.

Thankfully Sheriff Forbes could be persuaded, even though it took Rachel quite some time to do so, but apparently she didn't really seem to think that Alaric was guilty and so she wasn't as strict as usual.

When Rachel walked down the corridor with small cells left and right, a feeling of dread started to creep in. This place just looked downright depressing.

However her feelings completely shifted to one of worry when she found Alaric in his cell, laying on the bed as he starred at the ceiling in deep thought. It was weird to see him like this, locked up as if he were a criminal.

Rachel smiled a little to herself, she had thought that she would never see him again. She had met Alaric after she moved back to North Dakota to go to Duke, attempting to get a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering. At the time he had taken over his dead wife's research, studying folklore and parapsychology. She had actually given him quite a few information about vampires and such, but not too much or too detailed since Rachel didn't want to give away that she was part of the supernatural world herself.

They started to share a few drinks every now and then, talking about everything and anything, both of them trying to distract themselves. Alaric from the fact that his wife died mysteriously, without her body ever being found, Rachel from the fact that her fiance was somewhere overseas, fighting battles he shouldn't be fighting, while she hoped for his safe return. Oh, the irony.

"Hey Ric", Rachel said quietly, her hand closing around one of the bars, as she brought her face as close as possible.

"Rachel?", Alaric asked in disbelieve, immediately sitting up straight and looking at her as if trying to figure out if she was really there or if he somehow imagined her presence.

"So... watcha doin'?", Rachel joked with a lopsided grin which got Alaric to chuckle lightly. "Ah, just hanging out.", he answered and Rachel smiled brightly. At least he hadn't lost his humor.

"What are you doing here?", Alaric asked, his forehead furrowed in confusion, as he stood up and walked over to Rachel.

"You're sitting in an actual _jail cell_ and ask _me_ what _I'm_ doing here?", she laughed before answering his question, "I grew up here. For the majority of my life at least.", she said and felt how much she hated talking about her past. Suppressing just wasn't as easy if you had to talk about it constantly. "So, I've got a good reason for being here, seems like the real question is, what are _you_ doing here?", Rachel asked pointing her finger at him.

"My search for Isobel took me here, about a year ago.", he answered, his expression becoming more serious.

"Oh", Rachel said, sympathy dawning on her face and she slowly slid down to the ground, sitting against the wall, legs cocked and leaning against the bars, while her arms hung loosely over her knees. She had the feeling that this conversation could go on for a while. "Well, did you have any luck?"

Alaric sighed and mirrored her movement, sitting across from her so that their feet would touch if it weren't for the bars between them. "Yeah, well, it turns out that she wanted to become a vampire. So the one I saw feeding on her and thought had killed her actually turned her."

" _What_?", Rachel would have definitely fell over, if she wouldn't have already been on the ground. "Why would she do that?", her voice was barely audible at this point, since she asked this question more to herself. Why would anyone _choose_ this? Especially someone who's happily married to a nice, sweet and considerate guy like Ric? That woman had to be a real nutjob.

"I'm sorry.", Rachel said with a soft voice, disrupting the silence that had fallen over them.

"Don't be. Turns out my luck with women is just naturally tragic.", Alaric said with a weary smile.

Rachel darted a look at Ric, so many questions in her mind. "Elaborate.", she prompted him.

Alaric sighed and began telling Rachel all about how he had managed to find knew love in form of Elena's aunt Jenna, casually slid in the fact that Elena was actually Isobel's daughter, who she had given away right after birth when she was sixteen and never told Ric anything about it. He told her how this new-found happiness was ripped away from him as well, when Klaus used Jenna as a sacrifice in order to break the Hybrid curse, and how, after he finally managed to get over that, the new woman in his life turned out to be the very reason he was in this cell now.

"Wow", Rachel said and drew in a long and deep breath, trying to take all that information in. "Your love life sucks", Rachel joked, trying to lighten up the mood.

Alaric scoffed lightly. "Yeah, tell me about it.", he said and gave her a half-smile. "So how is it that you are associated with Elena and her friends anyway? Isn't she at least 5 years younger than you are?"

"Gee, thanks Ric. Way to make a woman feel good about her age.", Rachel acted offended, but ended up smiling at the older man in front of her.

"I used to babysit some of them and as they got older they used to come to me when they were completely hammered and needed to sober up before going home. Sometimes they came to get some advice, or play the newest video game, 'cause they couldn't afford it themselves. That kind of stuff", Rachel smiled fondly thinking about some of these memories. "They're sweet, I kind of used to see them as my little brothers and sisters, they can be incredibly annoying but it's always nice to have someone look up to you."

"Yeah, I know what you mean... Taking care of Elena and Jeremy has been an incredibly rewarding experience, no matter how exhausting it can be.", Alaric smiled affectionately.

"I think that's really amazing, you stepping up to look after them.", Rachel said sincerely and titled her head slightly, leaning her it against the bars by doing so.

"Yeah, well... Sometimes I wish there was someone out there who's more eligible for the task.", worry crossed Alaric's face, as he hung his head a little.

"I bet you're doing just fine.", Rachel said and meant it. He was a great guy, that much she was sure of.

* * *

Klaus was pacing around his study for two main reasons. The first one being the revelation that wood from the white oak tree was still in existence. The other being Rachel Davis.

After they parted ways the day before, Klaus had been rather preoccupied, barely thinking about her, but today she was on his mind constantly.

He couldn't stop picturing her. Her long, wavy hair that looked so luminous in the sun, her large eyes who seemed to be sparkling at one moment and looked cloudy in the next, her lightly toned skin, which looked soft as silk, her bright smile and how it seemed to lighten up an entire room...

She really did look like straight out of a painting, created by the world's best painter, as he completed the task of illustrating the most beautiful woman he could imagine.

He had asked Elijah about her, before he left, but he wouldn't say anything and now Klaus was left to wonder what her association with his brother was. But however they became acquainted with one another, he could understand why Elijah would be interested in her.

Her obvious beauty aside, he couldn't remember the last time he met someone who had such a cheerful glow surrounding them, yet at the same time such heaviness and misery. Usually one would clearly dominate over the other, but not with her... And damn his brother that he shared his 1000 years of experience and knowledge of human nature, since he was able to see this fascinating qualities just as well as he could.

It drove Klaus crazy, that she and his brother were so close, so quick, for whatever reason. Part of him thought, that he was mainly interested in her because they were. It was rather typical for him to begrudge everything that could make Elijah happy, especially if he couldn't have it himself. He started to convince himself that this was the only reason he took notice of her in the first place, it was way more reasonable than the thought that a mere human-being had somehow manged to garner his affections.

Yes, his desire to touch her smooth looking skin, in an attempt to figure out if it was as soft as it looked, had to be due to the rivalry, nothing else.

To proof that, he decided to simply win her over, bed her, and be over with this. Getting it out of his system, whilst tainting the girl his brother took interest in, would help his current situation immensely, he was sure of it.

Convinced that this would work he grabbed his jacket and went to see her...

When Klaus arrived at Rachel's house she wasn't there, but he could see that she was just on her way home, only a few yards away. To carry out his plan he needed to be his most charming and attentive self, so he walked to meet and help her carry the two heavy looking bags she held close to her body.

"Let me help you with that, love.", he said as he walked up to her, a charming smile tugging at his lips.

"I don't need your help, nor do I want it", was all Rachel said as she glared daggers at him, which caused Klaus to be slightly taken aback.

"What has gotten you into this sour mood? Is it because I took off rather abruptly yesterday? I wanted to get back to you but sadly, I don't have your number. Mind if we change that?", he said smirking at her, sure that whatever it was that got her so riled up, couldn't be too bad.

"Are you sure that your weren't just way to preoccupied over the fact that your mother tried to kill you and your siblings?", she said to him in a way too casual manner considering the words that came out of her mouth.

Klaus stopped in his tracks, a feeling of immense dissatisfaction washing over him. She knew.

"So you know.", he said, his voice darker now. "And of course now that you do, you don't want anything to do with me. Makes perfect sense, especially considering that, compared to my brother, how can I be anything other than the cruel beast who looms over your little friends. The disastrous abomination.", this somehow made her stop walking, as she looked at him in disbelieve.

"You think, that I'd judge you because of what you _are_?", Rachel's forehead creased distinctly, "I would _never_ do that. I judge you because of what you _did_. If you didn't know, those are two very different things.", with that Rachel set back into motion, closely followed by Klaus, who had felt a little relief at her words, no matter the angry tone she said them in. He told himself that he only felt like this because he didn't want his plan to be jeopardized, but he knew that this wasn't the real reason..

They walked silently to her front door, which she opened and took a few steps inside to place her bags in the hallway. As Klaus began to follow her, she quickly turned around and help up a hand, looking at him with narrowed eyes. "I'm sorry, did I say you could come in?"

"Well you already invited me once, love. No need for another invitation.", he said determinedly, his shoulder leaning casually against the door frame.

She scoffed at him as she folded her arms, looking at him with narrowed eyes. "Could you at least act as if familiar with the concept of simple human decency?"

"I could, but I'm afraid I don't want to.", he said and lifted his shoulder in a half shrug, "However, I might be inclined to make an exception for you, dear.", Klaus said with a smug grin on his face, leaning a little bit closer to hers.

"Good, you do that and while you're at it would you mind stop doing that?", Rachel asked, gesturing between them.

"Stop doing what, love?", Klaus asked innocently, which caused Rachel to roll her eyes at him.

"This. Your whole flirtatious act. How you constantly lean in way too close-", Rachel suddenly took a step toward him, reducing the remaining space between them to almost non-existent, as she continued talking. "Or whisper something in my ear in a low and seductive voice-", Rachel whispered in the exact way she had just described, "... or how you constantly make not-so-subtle physical contact.", Klaus gulped as Rachel slowly glided her finger along is his chest, before she took a step back and looked at him with a stern expression, continuing her lecturing speech. "Because you are Klaus Mikaelson and you don't have to respect boundaries or personal space. You want something, you take it. I get it. And I'm sure that over your thousand years on this earth, countless women swooned over your proprietorial ways, but let me make one thing very clear: It is _not_ gonna work on me.", determination set on Rachel's face as she leaned back again and watched him like hawk.

Klaus was taken aback at first, not to mention a little turned on by her being so close and talking like this, even if it was only to wipe the floor with him, but he quickly regained his composure.

"I have to say, you're quite the actress. There wasn't one thing about your facial features that gave you away, but you know the thing is", Klaus said, his voice turning more and more into a husky whisper, as he leaned closer to her, "Your heartbeat tells a whole different story, sweetheart."

Rachel's stoic expression faltered for a second which satisfied Klaus immensely, but just a moment later it got back to its previous state, before she slightly shook her head, went inside and slammed the door shut behind her.

Maybe, it would be a little harder than he thought...

* * *

 **AN** : Congratulations, you have reached the end of chapter 4! :D

Did you like it? I hope you did! :D

Don't forget to review if you happen to find the time, it really helps me a lot. ^-^


	5. Chapter 5

Hey :D

It's me again ^-^

Sorry I took so long, but I just started playing Warframe again, and it took up pretty much all of my time :D (and by the time I finally finished this Chapter: GTA V, the new Diablo 3 Season and my new workplace are to blame as well. :D)

Also, I was kind of not in the mindset of this universe. Normally bits and pieces about what I wanna write cross my mind constantly, but for the last 4 weeks that didn't really happen.

This all may reflect on the outcome of this chapter, but I hope I still, somehow, did well enough.

yasminasfeir1: Well, this definitely wasn't as quick, I would say. :D Thank you for reviewing, it means a lot. :)

Rbenham2: I really liked that bit, too. It was floating around in my head probably even before I started writing this fic. :D And also a big thanks to you for taking the time to review. I love it. ^-^

everyone else: Thank you guys for your feedback, all the favs and follows this story already has... It's amazing. :)

Anyway, here's the new chapter, I hope you'll enjoy. :)

* * *

 **CHAPTER 5**

Rachel went through her hallway, picked up the neglected bags and placed them onto the kitchen counter. The encounter with Klaus was still playing in her head, not to mention that her body was still affected by it as well. For a second there she had been really proud of herself for telling him off, but of course he wouldn't let her have this victory.

She began to empty the bags as someone knocked on her door. Rachel had the feeling that she knew who it was and as she walked up to the door and opened it she was proven right. Klaus was still standing on her porch.

"What do you want?", Rachel asked, folding her arms as she looked at him wearily.

"I wanted to talk to you. Even though I appreciate the little chat we just had it is not the reason I came here, believe it or not", Klaus said, a smug grin on his face, which seemed to be glued on now that she thought about it.

Rachel sighed and contemplated her options. He would simply be even more persistent if she wouldn't let him in and in the process would annoy her even further. She reluctantly opened the door and let him come inside, but didn't pay him much thought, as she continued to put the groceries away.

Neither of them said anything but Rachel could feel how he was watching her. She decided to ignore him for as long as he would allow it and started to put together everything she needed to prepare a meal. When she began to peel the potatoes, Klaus finally spoke up. "Can I help with that?", he asked, his typical grin once again plastered on his face.

"No, thanks", she replied, not throwing a second glance at him as she continued with the task at hand.

"Oh come on", he said in a singsong voice, almost as if he was mocking her. "Why so hostile? If I'm not mistaken, which I am quite sure I'm not, the two of us seemed to be getting along rather well."

"Is that so? Because as I recall, so far you have been a presumptuous, smug, and overly confident jerk, who somehow keeps trying to prove to me that's he's a really great guy.", Rachel said with a monotone voice, not letting any emotions flicker through. He wanted to tease her and get some kind of reactions out of her and she wouldn't give him that satisfaction, no matter how much she wanted to yell at him.

"Fascinating. You seem to be rather sure of what I am, what I do and why I do it. May I ask why that is?", Klaus' voice turned a little bit darker now, but Rachel wouldn't let that get to her.

She put her stuff down and looked at him determinedly "Because I know people like you", she said and shifted slightly, trying not loose her bravado. "Given that usually they aren't a thousand years old, but still...", her voice turned more into a murmur, as if the last bit of information wasn't really important any way.

"And what kind of people would that entail exactly?", Klaus' expression grew even darker, his voice almost gravelly.

"People who are incredibly weak and vulnerable on an emotional level, so they try to compensate that by showing off how powerful and strong they are.", she said, her eyes narrowed. She was just so done taking his crap.

Klaus' expression took an enormously sharp turn. His jaw clenched and his eyes went almost murderous as he started to speak in a goosebumps-inducing voice. "You think me weak?", he began to walk around the corner, coming dangerously closer as his hateful expression just grew stronger.

Rachel felt the need to grab the nearest item in an attempt to defend herself even though she knew it wouldn't do her any good. In fact, there was next to nothing she could do, should he settle for actually harming her, so she decided to simply stand her ground, not showing any signs of fear while hoping that she was right with her assumption that he wouldn't really hurt her.

When Klaus was right in front of her he grabbed her neck and pinned her against the refrigerator, his face only inches away from hers. "One would assume that after everything you have learned about me, you would know better than to call me that", he hissed at her.

"Well, if you don't want to be called out on it, maybe you should stop proving me right.", Rachel said with effort, as her throat was being slightly crushed by Klaus' hands.

"Oh so now I am proving you right, how exactly am I doing that?", Klaus loosened his grip a little, as if to give her a chance to explain without completely exhausting herself, trying to speak like this.

"By letting my words get to you. You are doing exactly what I said people like you would do, proving how strong you are. Guess what, strong people, _truly_ strong people, are confident in their strength, they don't need to prove it if someone thinks otherwise.", apparently this did the trick, as Klaus slowly removed his hand from her neck but he still continued to look at her in a rather hateful manner.

Rachel eyed him warily whilst touching her throat, trying to figure out how much it would hurt in the aftermath, but it wasn't too bad. He must have really composed himself.

"So that's your explanation?", Klaus started and gestured around, "You really think people are defined so easily? You know nothing about me", he spat the last part.

"I never said I did.", Rachel began as she tried to ignore what had just happened in order to keep up a conversation with him. "And no, I don't think it's that easy. But there are typical human behaviors which can be put down to certain events. Still it's always up to every individual how they come out of such experiences. Some will crumble and fall apart and others will come out even stronger than before. I'm aware of that, I'm not trying to generalize anything, but so far you fit the pattern quite well.", while Rachel held her monologue she had started peeling the potatoes again, rather successfully acting as if the incident never even happened.

Klaus looked at her with mixed emotions, but at least hatred didn't seem to be one of them anymore. "And how did you gain those pearls of wisdom, if I may ask?"

As Rachel was finished with the potatoes and was about to start to do the same to some carrots, she stopped for a second to look at Klaus, trying to figure out how much she even wanted to share with him. Right now, he wasn't the guy from two days ago. The one, that was somehow able to make er heart skip a beat just by looking at her. Now he was someone she was rather annoyed with. She was annoyed with the fact, that he seemed to think he could get anything he wanted, she was annoyed with his self righteous attitude, making it seem like all the misery he caused over a thousand years was somehow just, and mostly she was annoyed with the effect he still seemed to have on her, even now. It wasn't as strong as before, but it was still there. And she hated it.

Weirdly enough he wasn't the guy who had just put his hands around her throat, she got over that one surprisingly fast... "I've been around", Rachel finally said to answer his question, "Met quite a few people."

"Countless others have met quite a few people, that doesn't make them experts on human behavior. So why are you?", he seemed to be really interested in figuring that out, just as much as he seemed suspicious. Probably a default setting with him.

"I don't know", Rachel answered honestly. "I just am. I used to wonder why that is, and then I simply started to accept that people are different and that my brain just seems to be wired that way.", Rachel said and decided to explain this further, "It's logical thinking, human patterns, reasons, actions, implications, consequences, it's almost like one giant equation and if you know the right variables you just have to deploy them and then you've got your result."

Klaus looked at her almost fascinated, but maybe she just misinterpreted that. "Interesting...", he said, "Something like that is probably quite useful."

"Sometimes, I guess.", Rachel nodded, "But it definitely got me into positions I didn't want to be in."

"Such as?", he asked, and Rachel had to control herself not to laugh at that.

"Oh I don't know, situations like 5 minutes ago maybe?", Rachel said, trying to remind him that the continuation of this conversation was a courtesy of her, after what he did, it wasn't exactly natural to just keep talking to him like that, but she continued anyway "It's just... I'm kinda the go-to person, you know? For pretty much anyone with a problem, who doesn't seem to at least want to try dealing with it on their own.

"That doesn't sound too bad. Other people would be flattered, being a confident for not just one, but several people.", Klaus said and his voice sounded surprisingly sincere.

"Yeah, well", Rachel said, as she thought about it, "that's one half. The other is that it starts to get annoying really fast."

Klaus raised his eyebrows, as he looked at her questioningly. "Annoying, why?"

"Because sooner or later, you find out that people always do the same dumb mistakes, it doesn't matter if they came to you for help and you gave them sound advise, they end up doing it again anyways.", Rachel sighed thinking about many of those conversations, where she talked till she was blue in the face without any real effect whatsoever.

"See, the thing is. Things that are wrong... most of the time those are the things that are way more fun, or exciting, or intriguing or …", Rachel said and her voice got a little quieter towards the end as her eyes landed on Klaus' lips, realizing that that was one of those dumb mistakes she could never allow herself to make, ever. Quickly turning her gaze away from his face, she continued. "So most of the time they will end up doing it anyway, but they know it's not the right thing to do, so they tell me how awful they feel about it, acting as if they want advise, but really they just want to get assured that they're not a terrible human-being."

Rachel sucked in a deep breath, giving someone like Klaus so much information about herself was somehow frightening. But he didn't seem like he asked this to use it against her, he just seemed interested as he stood there silently and for whatever reason let her rant about things she usually never complains about. At least not out loud. She didn't even realize how everything was already peeled and sliced, in a pot filled with water, sitting on the stove. She only really noticed because now her hands didn't have anything to do anymore, which made her slightly uneasy.

Klaus continued to look at her curiously, which made her even more nervous, but she decided to try her best to ignore it and started cleaning up the kitchen.

"You're sure you don't want my help, love?", he asked her in a sweet voice.

It was unbelievable. She was so rapped up in answering his questions, way too detailed, she didn't really noticed before. There wasn't a trace left of the guy that only minutes ago had pinned her against the refrigerator, denying her to breath freely while doing so. It was psychotic, his change of moods. And scary. As if you always had to be wary around him, never knowing at what or when he'd snap again.

"I'm perfectly able to make potato soup myself, thanks", Rachel looked at him expectantly, "and I don't think that your concern about the fact that I might can't is the reason you're here. So. Do you mind telling me why you kept knocking on my door so persistently?"

Klaus shifted slightly, seemingly uncomfortable, which made Rachel hope that he was actually about to tell the truth and not give her some smug answer. "I wanted to ask you something", he finally said and Rachel looked at him questioningly, waiting for him to continue, which he did. "What is your association with my brother?"

His question came out blunt and rather hurried, he really was uncomfortable about asking it. Rachel didn't necessarily see why, she was definitely uncomfortable with the answer to that question, but why should he be with asking it? "I...", she began, trying to keep her cool, since she definitely did not plan on telling Klaus anything about her night with Elijah. "I met him just a few days ago. Spilled coffee on his suit, I apologized, he was determined in telling me, that it was his fault, not mine and we went for a drink.", Rachel said at a rapid pace, almost as if practiced but really she just didn't wanted to talk about it, especially not with Klaus. "Two days later he invited me to the ball, as you already knew.", Rachel added to complete the part of the story she would allow him to know.

Klaus looked at her with narrowed eyes, obviously detecting that there was something she had left out, but surprisingly enough he didn't call her out on it, he just nodded slowly. "My brother. Always his annoyingly polite self.", was all he said.

Rachel decided to inquire even though she knew she shouldn't. Just a few minutes ago, she had told Klaus about people who do stupid things, and keep on doing them, and there she was doing the exact same thing. "So...that's really all you wanted to know? Sounds kind off irrelevant."

"I don't think anything about you is irrelevant, love.", Klaus said, his voice low and somehow weirdly sincere. Rachel didn't know how he'd done it, but he seemed to be closer to her somehow, even though she could have sworn neither of them had moved one bit.

Her heart began to do things on its own account again, but Rachel chose to ignore it as she stared into these ridiculously beautiful eyes of his, trying to maintain composure as best as she could. "Why are you doing this?", Rachel asked with a shake of her head, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Why do you keep pretending to have such vast interest in me? You don't even know me."

Klaus snickered slightly. "Who's to say I'm pretending?", he asked, his voice even lower and he even closer. So close she could smell him, and damn if he didn't smell amazing. It was intoxicating. All the reluctance she had held against him seemed to wash away with his scent. His face was so close she had to move her eyes rapidly to examine all of his features, while she tried to figure out why he was doing this herself, since he apparently wouldn't tell her, but rather just keep up the charade.

"Of course you are pretending", she finally spoke up, distancing herself a little from him, "or do you really think I would be so naive to believe that a thousand years old hybrid, with a past like yours, could be genuinely interested in me?"

"Would that be so hard to believe?", he asked and moved closer again, putting a hand on her cheek, his thumb resting under her chin, titling it up slightly, so she was forced to look him straight in the eyes again. "My brother is even older than I am, and he seems to be rather interested in you, doesn't he?", his face came even closer, titling down towards hers as he continued to speak. "Truth be told, I am really starting to see why that is." Klaus' voice was merely a whisper now.

Before he could close the remaining distance between them Rachel came to her senses, as she slapped his hand away and took more than just one step away from him, her expression hardening. "Didn't I just tell you, right there on this doorstep, to stop doing that?"

"You did tell me", he said, his voice still low, "Maybe next time you should be more convincing.", his typical smug grin appeared on his face, when he put up his hands in feigned defeat and backed up a little bit. He turned around as if to leave, but just ended up roaming through her living room, annoying Rachel even further as he did so...

* * *

Half an hour later Klaus had settled on the couch, trying his best not to aggravate Rachel further, he had upset her one to many times and had to keep his advances at bay, at least for some time.

Needless to say he was quite annoyed with her show of resistance. It was obvious, that that's all it was – a show. He could hear her heartbeat, her shallow breathing, and he was already getting tired of putting up with it. The thought of simply compelling her had definitely crossed his mind more than once, but he knew that it wouldn't be as satisfying as cracking through her put-up wall.

What bothered him the most though, was how much effect her words had on him. He would have done way worse to anyone who would dare call him weak, even though it wouldn't have bothered him as much as when she said it. Her thinking of him as weak itched him immensely and he hated that feeling. He wasn't supposed to care what she thought of him, not beyond the means necessary to win her over and yet he couldn't shake the feeling the incident had left behind. Not the mention how intellectual she seemed to be. Everything she said about human nature seemed to make a lot of sense to him, no matter how much he would have liked it to be complete nonsense, since it would make her less interesting instead of more.

While Klaus had sulked about all of that, Rachel had smashed up the food, had added spices, cream and sliced up hot dogs and was now walking up to the couch, holding two bowls in her hands. She put them one of them down on the table in front of him and set down on the other end, farthest away from him, putting her feet up next to her legs as she started to eat.

Klaus looked at her with a puzzled expression, before his gaze fell on the bowl in front of him, then back to Rachel. He was confused as to why she would offer him something, so far all he did was overstep his boundaries, which she didn't seem to appreciate at all. As she picked up on his hesitation she stopped eating and looked at him. "You can eat that, I didn't poison it."

He raised an eyebrow and was slightly amused, most likely she knew exactly, that this wasn't his concern at all. "It wouldn't be able to do much, even if you did.", he stated jokingly as he picked up the bowl and started eating, trying to be polite by doing so.

Surprisingly enough it tasted rather good, it wasn't exactly gourmet cuisine, but still. "This is quite good.", Klaus said, knowing that compliments always worked, and this one wasn't even a lie. "Where did you learn to cook like that?"

Rachel looked at him in a pensive way before she swallowed and opened her mouth to answer him. "My...", she began, as her face turned into an expression he couldn't decipher, "Dylan was kind of... athletic and he needed proper food. Plus I was just as sick of cheap junk-food as he was, so I taught myself how to cook... . I definitely wouldn't have started if it hadn't been for him. I'm way too lazy for that."

"Well, whoever this Dylan is he's not here right now, so how come you prepared this delicious meal today?", Klaus asked, only mildly interested in the answer. Chit-chat was always just a means to an end.

Rachel turned her body away from him while she starred down at her bowl, filling up her spoon. "Yeah, well, I got used to it", she said, her voice barely audible and that was when it dawned on him. He could be so incredibly insensitive. She had already hinted at the passing of her beloved and her struggle for the right words should have tipped him off, but it didn't, and he felt pretty bad because of it, even though he shouldn't. Her feelings shouldn't matter to him, but they did, and right now he couldn't even attempt to convince himself that they didn't.

Klaus put his bowl down on the table and touched Rachel's arm gently and attentively, hoping he wouldn't put her off. "I'm sorry", was all he said and she seemed to understand, since she just looked at him with a sad expression and nodded slightly.

Klaus wasn't sure how far he could push it. On the one hand he wanted to know these things about her past on the other hand it wasn't really his place to ask any questions at all. That didn't stop him however, as a tried to get more information. "So how...", he began, but couldn't find the right words. "When...", now he just wished he would have kept his mouth shut, or at least thought about what he'd say before he opened it. "How long?", he asked, settling on it and hoping it wouldn't be received as poorly as it sounded in his head.

Rachel put down her bowl and folded her hands in her lap, staring at them. "Almost nine months", she said, her voice a little louder now, but clearly on the verge of breaking. She nervously put some strands of hair behind her ear while continuing to stare down at her lap.

"What was he like?", he asked, extremely cautious that every question could be the one to make her close up completely and not tell him anything anymore.

Rachel swallowed audibly, apparently fighting against the lump in her throat. "He was...", she began and breathed in deeply as if to prepare herself, "the best." A small but sad smile formed on Rachel's lips as she finally looked up at him. "He was amazing.", Rachel continued as she looked forward at nothing in particular and let out a small and weak chuckle

"He and I, we just... fit.", she said and looked into the distance, seemingly reminiscing. "We were so similar and yet not too similar. We always got along amazingly, because we were both aware of the most important thing in any kind of relationship", she turned her face in his direction and looked directly at him, "Communication. You can't expect others to read your mind, you have to tell them how you feel, what makes you happy, what hurts you... and if gestures aren't enough you have to use actual words, no matter how hard it may be for some people... We knew that." she said but didn't elaborate any further, probably realizing that she didn't even want to share that much with him.

He wasn't disinclined to it, more the opposite. He didn't want to hear more about a man that didn't even managed to stay alive for the woman in front of him. How she talked about that man with such pure adoration, made him almost angry and the fact that he felt that way made him really angry. Angry at himself. He wasn't supposed to care. Why should he care? She was nothing to him. His inner turmoil was driving him crazy. Going from feeling bad or sad or something else for her, to being confused and irritated with himself for feeling this way in the first place. It was exhausting. He needed to rid himself of this situation before he'd let out his frustration on her. "Speaking of communication, I'm afraid I must leave you now. I need to have a little chat with my brother Finn.", he said, trying to look apologetic, "I'm sorry", he added, because as much as he hated it, he really was. He had pushed her to open up about something that was obviously a really sour subject for her just to do anything but comfort her and leave her alone. He couldn't think about that however, otherwise he would go right back into his vicious cycle of emotions and that was exactly what he was trying to escape.

Rachel looked at him, a surprised expression on her face, seemingly wondering herself, why he would just leave immediately, after questioning her. "Okay.", was all she said as her eyebrows rose.

Klaus gave her weak smile, that he tried to disguise as a sympathetic one and quickly got out of the house before his inner disturbances could get any worse or would make him do things he'd regret...

* * *

 **AN:** So there it is, Chapter 5. A whooole chapter of Klaus/Rachel interactions. Mainly because, I didn't know how I would like to incorporate her in the original story line that's going on at that point. There's not much happening and she just got back to town. I think it would be unrealistic if the characters would involve her in everything right away or that she somehow keeps stumbling upon it. Plus, Klaus probably won't be there for the next chapter, cause he's on his way to get Finn, so I thought I give them a little time in advance.

I really hope you liked it and feel free to fav, follow and review away! :D


	6. Chapter 6

Ooooooh my God! Can it be? Can it? I guess it can :D

But seriously guys, I am really, really sorry for how long it has been since I have updated this story. I am not gonna bother you with every detail, when it can be summoned up with one short word: life.

And as I am telling you this I also want you to know that this story will never be abandoned. It may take an enormous amount of time between chapters, like now, but sooner or later it is gonna be continued. (and finished)

Well, as some sort of apology I made this chapter a little longer and since I made you wait this long I am gonna stop babbling and just start :D

* * *

 **CHAPTER 6**

A whole day has passed since Rachel's last encounter with Klaus and still, he was on her mind constantly. Well, until now, because now she had some other huge problem on her mind that was her number one priority – Alaric. Rachel had received a call from Elena, who had told her that Alaric had been in the hospital earlier that day, also explaining about why he had been there.

Apparently the ring he wore, somehow made him crazy, or allowed an evil alter-ego to manifest or something like that. She wasn't sure what to make of the information but she knew that she was worried and definitely wanted to see him, so that's what she did.

When she arrived at the Gilbert's house Elena opened the door, quickly explaining that Ric was upstairs in his bed and that after what happened with Meredith that day he may not want to see anyone. Taking that risk, Rachel made her way upstairs, and because the door was open, she could see exactly what she was afraid of seeing.

There he was, all alone, surrounded by silence as he laid in his bed doing nothing but stare at the wall, overall looking positively disconcerted. It was unsettling seeing him like this. It was obvious how conflicted, confused and lost he felt. And understandably so. What do you make of such revelation? How do you comprehend it, how do you live with it...

"Hey you", Rachel decided to make her presence known as she couldn't handle seeing his worrisome expression any longer. Clearly lost in his thoughts Alaric jumped a little bit at the sound of her voice, looking at her rather confused.

"Hey", he replied as he visibly struggled to put on some kind of smile on his face.

"Pretty needless question, but... how are you?", Rachel asked and worriedly skimmed across Alaric's face.

He exhaled heavily, "Well, finding out that you're a serial killer, without even knowing it, definitely puts you through various...emotions."

"Yeah", Rachel responded softly, "Yeah, I guess it does." Rachel moved closer to Ric's bed who anticipated what she was about to do, as he moved to the left side of the bed, effectively making room for Rachel to sit with him.

And that's what they did, they just sat there, doing nothing really but talk, chit-chatting rather, mostly sharing stories about some people they knew from Duke and hadn't been able to share for way too long.

It had been silent for a while until Ric disrupted that silence by clearing his throat, obviously about to address something a little more serious.

"Rachel...", Ric began, apparently having trouble with finding words, "Oh man... I don't... I don't even know how to ask this, I just..."

"Ric, whatever it is, you can say it", Rachel said as she laid a hand on his arm and smiled at him reassuringly.

Ric took another deep breath before continuing, "You know how you... once told me... what you are", he was so cautious and careful in picking his words, but Rachel knew what he was going to say, because she had already thought about it herself.

"And I know what it would mean for you to do that, and I wouldn't wanna put you through that, but... I hurt Meredith and I... I don't know...", Alaric's voice broke off, so clearly struggling with what he'd done while don't even knowing that he was doing it.

"Ric... I... Well first of all, I want you to know that I would do anything for you. And I'm talking like the most painful and dreadful withdrawal there ever was, I would do it for you.", and Rachel meant that. There was a reason Alaric was one of the three people she had ever told what she really was. "it's just... It's not magic. Not anymore. The only magic involved is the resuscitation power in that ring, which is the reason you're alive, but... what ensued from it is more... psychological, biological even... but not... magical.", Rachel looked at Alaric with a pained expression on her face. "I'm sorry"

"Oh, don't be", Alaric said mustering up a smile that even looked genuine as he took her hand, seemingly trying to assure Rachel that he would be fine. She returned that smile, just before she let her head sink down on Alaric's shoulder, not sure at all if he really would be fine in the end.

* * *

Rachel didn't sleep well last night. Or at all.

The whole thing with Alaric had her at a loss. The fact that he brought up the whole siphoning business didn't exactly help, not that it was his fault, but it was like every other addiction. Everything's fine and well as long as you are not confronted by it, but the conversation with Ric, just the thought of doing it to help him, had involuntarily let in the thoughts of that amazing rush she felt when magic surged through her body...

Rachel shook those thoughts off as she tried to put her mind to the problems at hand. She had the raising suspicion that something was about to go down, she just didn't know what exactly.

After racking her brain about it all day Rachel came to the conclusion that it had to have something to do with the Mikaelsons. It would make sense that no on would involve her in that as they probably thought that she was somehow involved with them.

She couldn't deny however that she was feeling kind of anxious. Not just for her friends maybe hurting themselves while trying whatever they were trying to take the original vampires down, but even for the safety of said originals. Or at least one, maybe two of them.

After going over several scenarios in her head about who gets hurt and how, Rachel decided to get up and see for herself what exactly has been going on in these last hours.

After debating on where she should start her search, Rachel settled on the Mikaelson mansion. If the other 'faction' would have wanted her to know something, they would have just told her, but since they didn't, the Mikaelsons seemed to be the better option.

As Rachel arrived the front door stood wide open and the dialogue she heard coming out of the house was mildly disturbing. The last sentence she heard, before she was able to lay eyes on the scenario unfolding, was Klaus saying: "I really think you should be thanking me." just before he laid eyes on her and was undeniable dumbstruck for a moment.

That moment however was rather short as in the matter of seconds Klaus was pushed into the wall next to her with a stake pointed at his heart. Stefan standing in front of him with a look on his face that was positively crazy.

What the hell was going in here? Rachel tried to wrap her head around everything she saw in this room, up to Damon being captured in bear traps hanging from the ceiling. Everything started to spin in Rachel's head as she tried to control and sort out every feeling and impulse that washed over her in that moment. Including the impulse to help Klaus, realizing that she didn't want him to die.

As she snapped out of it to finally take action, any action, Klaus had already freed himself and Rebekah was busy freeing Damon. So she just continued to stand there, not moving a bit, starting at zero again, as she just didn't know what she was supposed to do or say.

Thankfully this decision was made for her, as Rebekah walked past her, closely followed by Klaus who took a hold of her arm, almost dragging her along with him. Rachel threw a last quick glance back over her shoulder to see Stefan who helped Damon on his feet and found herself wishing that things wouldn't get any worse from here.

"What are you doing here?", Was Klaus' first question as soon as they entered another room, his study apparently.

Rachel looked at him with raised brows and crossed her arms over her chest. "Nice to see you too, sweetheart", she replied as she finally got her momentum back.

"Don't.", Klaus said, his voice harsh and hostile, "You have no business being here.", he said while pacing through the room as if trying out for the Olympics. "You may assume, that because I took a fleeting interest in you, you have somewhat of a free reign around here, but I am glad to inform you just how wrong you are.", Klaus voice had now switched to malevolent and threatening.

Rachel needed a second to digest the words she heard, and especially how they came out, but quickly decided that she wasn't gonna put up with another one of his mood swings, this was her ticket out. She looked at him in an almost amused way and started laughing a little bit. She thought he should know how ridiculous he was behaving right then. "Thank you", Rachel said accompanied by a sigh of relief.

"You know the reason I _am_ here is that I was actually worried about you", Rachel was still laughing, but at this point more at herself, "and, well, obviously I was a little conflicted by that, but you", she paused and pressed her finger lightly against his chest, gaining even more confusion from him, "just made sure, that there is absolutely nothing to be conflicted about.", Rachel leaned back with a satisfied smile on her face. "I don't care whether you live or not. So, thank you. Thank you for that clarification, I feel almost sane again.", Rachel said as she flashed her best fake smile at him, turned around and left Klaus behind without so much as throwing one last look at him.

* * *

After the events from last night Rachel had pushed Elena to tell her about what exactly happened during these last two days.

She found out, that they had planned to use the link between the Originals to kill one of them so they would all die, but just before they managed to kill Finn Klaus had successfully pressured Bonnie into de-linking the siblings again. From what Rachel could hear they weren't about to give up on killing the Originals.

Elena also mentioned her and Damon going on a trip later that day to find out which original vampire created Stefan's, Damon's and Caroline's bloodline, since they learned that if one Original dies every single vampire turned from their bloodline dies along with them.

Rachel couldn't help but still feel a little bit worried about Klaus, even going so far as to silently wishing they'd find out that it was Klaus who created their bloodline so they couldn't kill him. Pushing away these troubling thoughts Rachel decided to pay Alaric a visit, who was locked down at the Salvatore's house, since his alter-ego hid the last remaining white oak stake, something Klaus and his siblings would stop for nothing to get their hands on.

Thankfully it wasn't hard to find the Salvatore's residence as it was an huge, old boarding school Rachel remembered from when she was a child but has never set foot in.

She knocked on the massive door, going from crossing her arms to putting her hands in her pockets and back, settling on the former whilst being mildly uncomfortable about being here at all.

Soon the older Salvatore opened the door and looked at her with a raised eyebrow, crossing his arms himself. Rachel looked at him rather confused, not really knowing what to do or say next.

Apparently every second of Rachel's loss for words irritated Damon even further, because he looked even more annoyed than when he first opened the door.

He titled his head a little, so it was leaning against the door and pointed towards a direction inside the house, seemingly knowing why she was here.

Rachel was kind of thankful, that he gave her an out of this uncomfortable moment, giving him a small but appreciative smile as she proceeded to walk in the direction Damon had pointed to. It led her down into a basement, which creeped Rachel out to say the least. It was almost like they were keeping him in some sort of dungeon and as she saw the big metal door next to her Rachel realized that it wasn't as far off as she would have hoped it to be.

"Ric?", Rachel asked, standing in front of the door, as her hand laid on the door handle, ready to push it down the moment she got confirmation.

"Yeah", was the whole response, but everything Rachel needed as she quickly opened the door to lay eyes on him.

"We really have to stop meeting like this... You visiting me somewhere I don't even wanna be with that overly concerned expression on your face.", Alaric greeted her, trying to pull off half a smirk.

"Yeah, well, I guess I'm obstinate", Rachel responded as she sat down on the floor in front of Alaric, way better at pulling of that smirk than he was.

That had him laughing softly, but even trough his laugh Rachel could see how worried he was, so she decided to just keep him company again.

So that's what she did, that time they shared stories of their childhood that they haven't told each other yet. Eventually not talking about them as children but children in general, what inevitably led to the whole Isobel debacle, to Elena and Jeremy and how much he loved being their guardian.

Rachel smiled a little to herself. How people find one another... Sometimes so random and yet so right.

After a while Rachel made her way upstairs, mainly because Alaric insisted that technically he wasn't even allowed to have visitors. Reluctantly she agreed, much to her own disliking that wasn't the only thing she'd agreed to. She also promised to replace him as chaperon on the school dance that night, since he himself was obviously preoccupied. She already knew that today she just wasn't in the mood for something like that, but she'd do it as a favor for Ric.

Rachel had arrived in the living room where Damon greeted her with his bright and somehow crazy eyes, studying her, as if he was trying to solve a puzzle or something. Rachel definitely felt uneasy being watched by him like this.

"Hey", she greeted him as she put on her typical, polite, but still sincere smile, hoping to put the last rather weird encounter behind them.

"Mhhh", Damon looked at her, one eyebrow high, "Don't you look cheery."

Rachel crossed her arms and shrugged her shoulders. "It's pretty much my go-to look", she explained.

"Well... If you say so", Damon said, a weird half-smirk appearing on his face, which Rachel could only describe as somewhat funny looking.

"Yeah... I guess I do... Say so", she said, dragging it out because she didn't know what to say after that. Both of them stood there looking at each other rather awkwardly as uncomfortable silence started to disseminate between them.

Suddenly something must have caught his eye, as Damon's complete attention went to something, or someone, behind her.

Rachel had a good guess as to who it was that had Damon's undivided attention in just a matter of seconds and when the person behind her cleared her throat her suspicion was confirmed.

"Elena, hey.", Rachel said as she turned around to face the young girl, who smiled at her in return.

"Here to see Alaric as well?", Elena asked, to what Rachel nodded in response.

"Yeah, I've been down there for a while, but... I need a little break. Good thing you're here to take over though.", Rachel said smiling.

"Wow wow wow", Damon chimed in, "you guys can't just keep popping up here. Ric's on _lock down._ Don't you think you all being here, keeping him company and trying to comfort him kinda negates the whole being _locked down_ thing?", Damon said, gesturing awkwardly while his eyes did even crazier things.

Rachel looked at him questioningly. Was he serious? Of course, they would make sure, their friend was taking care of. It puzzled her, but thankfully, she didn't had to deal with this. "Alright, how about you two sort this out, while I go and do _anything_ else.", Rachel said as she clapped her hands and gave Elena a quick sympathetic smile as she wandered of, trying to find something to entertain herself with.

Hours later, Rachel had just put away the third book she had begun to read but couldn't quite focus on it. The fact that she helped herself to the Salvatore liquor stock didn't help the matter at all.

Suddenly she felt a presence nearby and shortly after, smelt an all too familiar and sadly pleasant smell. "Cat drag you in?", she asked without looking up or in his direction in general, but in the end got up from her seat, looking at him with nothing but disinterest. "Oh... I am sorry! Was that too much? Am I assuming again that I have free reign with you when really I should start bracing myself for the crushing impact of pain and suffering heading my way, also known as 'The wrath of Klaus Mikaelson'?", Rachel said with the most mocking voice she could find in herself whilst fixing another drink. She turned around leaning against the serving table, one arm crossed over her chest, the other preoccupied with holding the glass and moving it to her lips.

Klaus had already closed in and just as her drink touched her mouth he stood directly in front of her, gaining two raised eyebrows from Rachel, which only rose higher as he took the drink out of her hand, beginning to drink it himself.

Rachel just sighed as she looked to her right, shaking her head slightly. Today she just didn't have the energy for Klaus' ways and everything that entailed. Klaus however didn't seem to be quite done yet as he put down his glass next to where Rachel was standing, all the while being very careful that on the way back his hands would not miss Rachel's body, even staying there for just a moment. He was truly unbelievable.

"I know, the events of last night must be very unsettling for you. My being so incredibly rude towards you surly did not help the matter, the entirety of the day was just...", Klaus apparently didn't want to comment further on this as he just waved his hand and continued talking in his calm but somehow calculating voice, "I was simply... baffled to see you there. It can be downright dangerous walking into our home without advanced notice. I was apprehensive and didn't mean to snap at you.", Klaus finished and looked somehow satisfied with his exposition.

"It's funny...", Rachel began and laughed a little bit while she was re-making her drink, "... with all your smooth talking, carefully chosen words... probably makes a lot of people think that you actually mean what you say or regret what you did when really you're just beating around the bush and distracting from the fact that... you're not even really apologizing.", Rachel looked at him with a hint of amusement in her eyes as she emptied her glass in one swig. "But I guess a Klaus Mikaelson doesn't have to, does he?" Rachel winked at him, still amused as she put her glass down and started walking towards the door. "Tell Stefan to text me, as soon as you're done lurking around here."

* * *

Klaus was busy painting and waiting for his sister while she was of fetching the last white oak stake in existence. But neither of those things could successfully distract him from what was really going on in his mind including the fact that for over a week now almost every single one of his thoughts revolved around only one person. He was so done with his feelings toward this woman, so irritated about this constantly surging emotions of worry, sympathy, infatuation... The thought of just killing her to get rid of it crossed his mind more frequently with every passing hour.

But how was that possible when only a few ill-spoken words directed at her had already made him want to rip his own tongue out for voicing them?

Thankfully, due to his latest decision he wouldn't have to put up with his confusing emotions for much longer, as he would be leaving town later that day.

Just as Klaus drew a little comfort from that fact, Rebekah returned with the white oak stake, and after burning it badgered him to go the this stupid dance at the local high school that night, bringing up the fact that Rachel would be there as well.

As she was one of the reasons Klaus wanted to leave in the first place as well as being the reason he didn't want to leave at all, Klaus could see the appeal of going to the dance, seeing her one last time. Maybe actually get to dance with her one more time. So he spend the most of his day getting everything in order to get out of this town, which mostly meant commanding others to do that for him, until it was time to get ready for the dance.

As Klaus stood in front of the school, he felt a little pity for the people around him. Those ordinary people with their ordinary lives and their ordinary feelings. Most of these young people were probably nervous, self-conscious, some even scared. For the first time in a very very long time Klaus was feeling these feelings too. He didn't know what would wait for him behind those doors, if she would talk to him, even look at him... If there was an actual chance she would dance with him...

He felt disgusted with himself as he stood there, thinking things, feeling things, that those sad little teenage girls and boys around him felt as well. Him. Klaus Mikaelson, emotionally weak like those cockroaches surrounding him.

He sighed and decided to shake those feelings off and replace them with feigned confidence, making sure they wouldn't flicker through for the rest of the evening.

He got to the gym and quickly scanned the room, he couldn't see Rachel but something else was earning his attention and apparently someone else took notice of that person the same time he did as both quickly tried to catch up to him.

"Tyler", he said in a demanding voice, "Where have you been mate?" Klaus could feel that he grew more and more irritated by the second and his first-born hybrid hasn't even started making excuses yet.

"He...", Caroline tried to chime in, apparently still thinking that her words had some sort of meaning to him, oblivious to the fact, that she was just a pawn in the game he'd play with Tyler, or rather against him.

Klaus clapped his hands together as he put on his fake smile. "Caroline, dear", Klaus said, feigning cheerfulness all the while making sure his voice contained the right amount of lecturing undertones in it, "I don't recall asking you anything, so how about we give our little lad here the chance to speak for himself, mh?", By now he had put his hand on Tyler's shoulder looking at him in a menacing way.

Just as Tyler wanted to speak up, all three of them got distracted when they heard another voice. "Klaus.", was all she said, as she looked at him scowlingly and crossed her arms over her chest. "What are doing here?", Rachel asked, the irritated tone in her voice very apparent, which Klaus found to be surprisingly disturbing.

Klaus removed his hand from Tyler's shoulder, dismissing him and Caroline with a wave of his hand, his attention now entirely focused on the beautiful girl in front of him, with the not so beautiful expression on her face.

"Is it really this bad to see me, love?", he asked playfully, but actually bracing himself for the response, because Klaus knew it wouldn't be in his favor.

"For one. Yes, it is. But mostly, you being here, at an high school dance, can only implicate something really really bad.", Rachel sighed as she was seemingly trying to prepare herself for the reason he was here.

"So the thought of me just wanting the enjoy myself, hear some music from one of my favorite decades, whilst socializing with those fascinating people around here and maybe even get to dance with the most beautiful girl in this room is what exactly? Unthinkable?", Klaus said with just the tiniest bit of mocking in his voice.

"Yeah...Kinda.", Rachel furrowed her eyebrows together in suspicion but apparently couldn't exactly pin anything on him for simply being here.

"Well if you want to make sure I behave, it would be very well advised to grant me my wish for this evening", Klaus said, extending his hand towards Rachel, hoping she would take it.

Rachel just scoffed at him, but took his hand nonetheless. Maybe thinking that dancing with him would still be the lesser evil or maybe because she just wanted to. The latter being more wishful thinking on his side than anything else.

They walked their way in the middle of the crowd just as a rather slow song started to play.

As they got into position Klaus couldn't help but notice that all the compromising thoughts and feelings he had since he met the woman in front of him, somehow just washed away to be replaced by every positive one. How it felt holding her hand in his, his other one resting on her back, hers laying softly on his shoulder...

They started to slowly move to the rhythm of the song while Rachel kept looking at him suspiciously, obviously trying to find out what his game was. If she only knew that this moment, right there, was everything he cared about right now.

Feeling this way only convinced him further that leaving this town would be the right decision. If she could make him feel this way in a matter of days, what would she be able to do in a month, a year, a lifetime? One thing was sure, he was not sticking around to find out.

"You can stop looking at me like this, you know? I am not here to cause any harm, I simply came to say goodbye", Klaus said and saw how Rachel looked at him in confusion. Maybe even a small amount of disappointment hidden in there as well.

She quickly composed herself, even straightening her shoulders a bit. "So, what? You've caused enough racket to last all of us a lifetime and now you're off to do that with some other poor people?"

Klaus let his head fall for a second in defeat, laughing lightly as he searched her eyes again. "You really do think of me that way, don't you?" To which came no response only a continuous suspicious glare directed at him.

They finished their dance in silence, but Klaus couldn't help but notice that Rachel had moved just the tiniest bit closer to him looking almost sentimental, which involuntarily got him smiling.

* * *

Rachel had sat outside of the school for pretty much the entire evening, . What good chaperon she was, sitting out here leaving those kids to themselves, doing whatever it was they wanted to do.

After hours of sitting there, contemplating if she should be sad or glad that Klaus was leaving, going from hell yeah, finally he'll be gone, to wishing they had more time together, preferably times like before she knew who he was and what he did. She ultimately dismissed all of those thoughts, because after knowing someone for just a week or so, you couldn't possibly care that much anyway. Could you?

Sighing, Rachel searched for her phone only to see that it had blown up. She really shouldn't keep her phone on mute at all times. There were so many calls and messages from numerous people, she knew something had to be very, very wrong.

Rachel called Elena to find out what happened, only to be completely shocked by what has unfolded while she sat there, wallowing in self-pity.

As quickly as her feet could carry her Rachel made it to the graveyard, not having trouble finding the specific area as it was lit by candles. On her arrival she noticed that everyone stood around the tomb Alaric was seemingly in. However she didn't pay much attention to them and quickly ran inside the tomb and as she saw him sitting there the whole weight of what was happening came crushing down on her.

She managed to take a few more steps, before she sunk down to her knees next to him, her hand resting on his shoulder, squeezing it a bit in a reassuring matter, but truly she needed all the reassurance there was to get through this herself.

Alaric slowly looked up at her, a single tear rolling down his cheek as he laid his hand on hers, stroking his thumb over the back of her hand a few times. She could feel how she was about to break any second, but she had to be strong for him.

Taking a long, calming breath Rachel finally manged to look into his eyes. "Ric...", she began, but couldn't find the words to say.

"No don't", Alaric said, his voice raspy and weak as he straightened himself a little, taking Rachel's hand away from his shoulder and inside both of his, a weak smile formed on his face, "We don't have to find any big last words... We already know what we mean to each other, how much we care for one another... We shouldn't make it any harder than it already is."

Rachel nodded in response, using her free hand to wipe away a single tear she hadn't managed to contain. "Okay, well...", Rachel cleared throat, "Any last requests?", she asked half jokingly, half serious, wearing a sad smile on her face.

"Yeah... yeah, actually. I do. I do have one request.", Ric said and looked at Rachel as if unsure whether or not he should voice his wish. "Would you... Would you mind keeping an eye on Elena and Jeremy, now that I'm... gonna be gone?"

Rachel was at a loss for words. That he would even consider her to be the right fit for this task, well maybe simply the only fit left, but still. "I... I will", Rachel said, another tear freeing itself. "Not that anyone could ever replace you", Rachel said throwing a little smile at Ric, which he reciprocated.

"Thank you", Alaric said with such obvious and genuine appreciation it warmed Rachel's heart, "It's a great relief knowing that those two have someone as caring and loving and ridiculously wise for her age as you to rely on.", Alaric smiled at her, this time a little wider.

"Hey, stop", Rachel sniffed, "What you're saying would most certainly fall under the category of 'last big words'."

Alaric chuckled lightly, "You're right, I'm sorry." Hearing Alaric laugh, no matter how slightly, broke Rachel's heart and mended it all at once.

"Can I stay with you...?", Rachel asked with big hopeful eyes, even though she already knew his answer.

"No Damon's gonna stay here to make sure all goes as planned, I don't want you to see this and most of all I don't want you to be in danger... Especially when I am what's dangerous."

Rachel nodded in understanding, because as much as she wanted to stay, she could see why Ric wouldn't want that. "I guess that means...", Rachel started but didn't manage to finish the sentence.

"Yeah, I guess it does.", Alaric said nodding while wearing a half-smile, obviously trying to make this easier for her, whilst being absolutely terrified himself. The thought of leaving him like this caused actual physical pain to erupt inside of Rachel, but she would respect his wish and leave him be.

They both took a minute to just look into each others eyes, silently saying everything unsaid, everything that needed to be said and everything that didn't, before Rachel slowly reached out to him wrapping her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly for the last time...

...

Rachel had this burning sensation inside of her as she ran through the streets of Mystic Falls, trying to make it back to her house as quickly as possible. She didn't look at anyone when she got out of the tomb, or talked to anyone, she knew she had to get home, she knew it was going to burst out of her every second now, containing it any longer was just not possible.

He was gone. Another one. Gone. Washed from the face of the earth, like so many others. So many people she cared for and loved, all taken away, it made her wonder why she ever let people in in the first place. There literally wasn't one single time it hadn't backfired and left her heartbroken. Not once.

Finally, after the first silent tears had already dried, reemerged and dried again Rachel was at her house. Quickly fumbling for the keys and opening the door. She didn't even wait until she was upstairs, or at least in the kitchen, she immediately sunk to the floor, back against the door and started crying her heart out. Sobbing so loudly it was probably heard miles away, but she didn't care, the only thought in her head was how he was gone, not able to truly wrap her head around this...

Still sobbing, shaking, crying, trembling, Rachel didn't notice that someone else was in the house, not even when that person kneed down next to her, only when she felt her shoulder being touched did Rachel realize that she was not alone.

Taking in a deep breath of shock, Rachel immediately got up on her feet, back still pressed against the door, trying to find out who the intruder was, if she was supposed to be scared, embarrassed, relieved, running for her life?

It took a few seconds before she managed to blink away all the tears in her eyes to clear her vision, just to realize that of course the mysterious person was non other than Klaus Mikaelson.

Cursing inwardly that Klaus had seen this weak broken version of herself, Rachel tried to stop from shaking, but she was already so deep in her fit of weeping that her body refused to respond. What threw her off guard even further was how Klaus didn't look smug or priggish or gloatingly at all, he just looked at her with intense concern and compassion as he cautiously put his hands on her shoulders. Slowly, he peeled Rachel off of the door she had been almost physically attached to, to put his arms around her. This was something that took her by complete surprise. But what was even more surprising was that Rachel found herself being actually comforted in his arms and in that she did something she hadn't done in at least 10 years. With the exception of the company from one other human-being, she completely let her guard down, wrapping her own arms around him as well, crying miserably into his shoulder. For the first time in forever she sought the comfort of somebody else instead of powering through on her own and actually did feel comforted by it. She wasn't sure how he was even able to do that but in that moment she didn't care, she just stood there, letting him hold her, holding onto him. For what felt like hours they just stood like this until her tears finally dried out.

* * *

 **AN:** Soooooo. This is it. I honestly don't know how to feel about this chapter... I feel like after 10 months it should be way better, way more, way everything... Well... what are you gonna do? :D

I'm just glad there finally is a sixth chapter to put out if I'm being honest. ^^

Actually as it is 4 am right now, I am not only glad but really really exhausted. As well as proud, I guess. Continuing this story has been kind of my Everest for the past ten months and I finally made it to the top and let me tell you, it feels amazing xD

Oh, and just to clarify, Klaus didn't draw that picture for Caroline, I just didn't wanna rewrite the scene, because it's kinda irrelevant even for the canon story. So Tyler did sleep on the couch, next to Caroline's room, instead of somewhere else, biiiiig deal :D

However, sorry again for the long wait, I hope you don't punish me with lack of reviews or something like that, because those are soooo heartwarming and helpful ^-^

That's it from me you guys, see ya later! :)


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